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The Boston Celtics took a 2-0 series lead over the Brooklyn Nets last night at home, thanks in large part to big nights from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
But do you know what might have helped them even more – the very bad nights from Kevin Durant and Kryrie Irving.
Those two superstars are two of the best players in the world and last night in the second half when they had a lead and a chance to even the series they didn’t carry their team like they were supposed to and now they are in a very big hole against a very good team.
If you look at the stats you’ll see that Durant finished with 27 points. A closer look shows the nightmare happened in the second half when he went 0-10 from the floor and had four turnovers. According to ESPN Stats & Info, that’s most shots without a make in a half in KD’s entire career. He finished just 4 of 17 from the floor, which isn’t close to being good.
Kyrie, meanwhile, finished with just 10 points and had only two points in the fourth quarter.
KD and Kyrie were a combined 1-17 from the floor in the second half and couldn’t do anything from stopping Boston from coming back from a 17-point deficit to get the win.
You can’t talk about their bad nights, however, without talking about how good the Celtics’ defense played against them. Durant faced incredible double teams that made it very hard for him to get things going down the stretch. The Celtics were seemingly everywhere on the floor in the defensive end of the floor.
That defense by Boston could end being the difference in this series because they way they played last night was really darn impressive.
This series, though, is far from over. You have to think Durant and Kyrie will bounce back because they are all-world players and that’s just what they do.
But falling into an 0-2 hole after having a 17-point lead on the road has to sting a lot this morning.
Now it’s up to KD and Kyrie to turn this thing around and they better do it in a hurry.
Quick hits: Joel Embiid’s awesome game-winner… Jay Wright’s retirement stuns college hoops fans… What 49ers should do with Deebo… And more.
– Joel Embiid did what starts do last night in Toronto as he hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Sixers a 104-101 win and a 3-0 series lead.
– Villanova’s Jay Wright announced last night he will be retiring from coaching and college hoops fans were stunned.
– Deebo Samuel wants to be traded and Christian D’Andre breaks down all the things the 49ers should do to try to keep him.
– A junior college pitcher in Texas gave up a home run and then decked the hitter. This video is wild.
