BOSTON — In a first-round game that had the hype and energy of the conference finals, the Celtics and Nets rose to new heights for a Game 1 in mid-April.
The tone remains unchanged, as evidenced by the middle finger Kyrie Irving flashed at a fan after hitting a corner 3-pointer in the third quarter, after a night of blistering boos from his former, unerringly hateful home crowd.
But despite 39 points, including 6-for-10 3-point shooting by the Brooklyn star, the Celtics took Game 1, courtesy of a buzzer-beating layup from Jayson Tatum for a 115-114 win.
Tatum finished with 31 points, to go along with three other Celtics with 20-plus performances. Irving had been poised to take this one, after scoring eight straight points in a murderous 17-2 Brooklyn run over the first 4:37 of the fourth quarter — a burst that not only wiped out what had been a 15-point Celtics lead, but seemed destined to steal Game 1.
Jaylen Brown’s 3-pointer cut the Brooklyn lead to 107-105 with 4:05 left, and when Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant was whistled for an offensive foul, Marcus Smart drove through traffic to tie the game at 107-107 with 3:17 left.
Irving took it back with a 10-footer over Tatum, and Derrick White drove again for the tie. Nic Claxton, fouled by Al Horford, missed two free throws, White stepped out of bounds, Irving and Smart swapped misses, and with 1:19 left Durant hit from the baseline for a 111-109 Brooklyn lead.
Horford tied it with a put-back, only for Irving to bury his sixth 3-pointer for a 114-111 Nets lead with 45.9 seconds left.
Brown came out of a timeout with a drive, Durant missed a late-clock three under pressure from Tatum, and thanks to a quick advance of the ball and pass from Smart, Tatum scored for the win at the buzzer.
Irving, the hotter of the two Nets stars, led a 17-2 Brooklyn run over the first 4:37 of the fourth with back-to-back 3-pointers from the top of the arc, followed by an easy drive coming out of a timeout.
With the Celtics in a deep chill, Durant followed with a murderous pull-up 3-pointer for a 100-98 Brooklyn lead, erasing what had been a 15-point Celtics lead in the third quarter.
Brown finally dunked — the Celtics went the first 5:28 of the fourth without a basket — and answered a Nic Claxton put-back with another rim finish. But Irving buried his fifth 3-pointer for a 107-102 Nets lead.
Brown cut the Nets lead to 107-105 with a 3-pointer, Durant was called for a charge, and Smart drove for a 107-107 tie.
