Celtics fall to Nets in Game 1 despite Robert Williams’s historic defensive performance

Celtics Williams finished with nine blocks, but the Nets had too much offense for the Celtics in Game 1. Jayson Tatum attempts a shot as Kevin Durant contests. AP Photo/Corey Sipkin

The Celtics fell in Game 1 of their first-round series to the Brooklyn Nets, fading down the stretch in a 104-93 loss.

Here’s what’s happened.

The Big Picture

The Celtics were excellent in the first half and took a six-point lead into the break, as the Nets struggled mightily from 3-point range.

Then the Nets woke up, and the Celtics struggled in the first two minutes of the second half. The Celtics remained competitive and were within a single possession in the fourth quarter, but the Big Three of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving is always on the verge of a 10-0 run, and they opened up the game down the stretch for a double-digit win.

Star of the Game

Kevin Durant — 32 points, 10-for-25 shooting, 12 rebounds.

Robert Williams was a contender here, but his team lost by double digits which seems disqualifying.

Durant struggled from 3-point range, but the Celtics — like the rest of the NBA — don’t have a lot of answers for him when he’s rolling, which will be one of the most difficult puzzles they need to solve to have a chance.

What’s Next

The Celtics have time to rally, but they played a near-perfect first half and still couldn’t take Game 1. Brad Stevens noted after the game that the Celtics can clean up their offense, but a missed opportunity won’t feel good as they prepare for a crucial contest.

Game 2 tips off Tuesday at 7:30 p.m on TNT.

Takeaways

1. In the first half, the Nets looked like a team whose three best players only played eight games together. They turned the ball over, took turns offensively, and generally made defense easier for the Celtics.

In the second half, the Nets resolved all of those issues. They started making 3-pointers, but more importantly, Durant, Irving, and Harden picked their spots and played within themselves. Durant punished the Celtics with pull-up jumpers. Irving hit Celtics defenders with dribble moves that left the crowd ooh-ing and burned the Celtics at key moments. Harden worked his way to the free-throw line and facilitated.

If the Nets neutralized the Celtics’s continuity advantage in the first two quarters of Game 1, the Celtics might be in for a difficult series.

2. Playing on one functional toe, Robert Williams was easily the Celtics’s best player. He pieced together a monstrous defensive performance with nine blocks (a Celtics playoff record since the stat was counted) to go with 11 points and nine rebounds and made the Nets feel his presence every minute he played. Perhaps his most impressive play: He was isolated against Harden for an entire possession and finally blocked Harden’s patented step-back jumper.

“It don’t mean s— if we losing, man,” Williams said after the game, which is technically true, but his performance was phenomenal.

The Celtics really need Jaylen Brown healthy, but Williams’s health issues are a tough blow as well — he played just 23 minutes on Saturday. The Celtics need him to stay healthy next season, but they really do need him, which will make for a fascinating contract negotiation.

3. The Nets targeted Tristan Thompson heavily with switches against their best scorers with good results. Left on an island out on the perimeter, Thompson did what he could but the Nets got by him with relative ease.

The Nets also targeted Jabari Parker, who got extended minutes in Jaylen Brown’s absence. Parker fared slightly better, but dealing with the Nets’s Big Three 1-on-1 repeatedly is a lot to ask of any defender.

4. Tatum went cold at a brutal time in the third quarter and never found his footing. The Nets threw a ton of defensive attention at him, and without Jaylen Brown, the Celtics simply didn’t have the consistent firepower to make up the difference. Tatum finished with 22 points on 6-for-20 shooting. The Celtics need a lot more to have a chance.

Tatum faces a tough challenge. The Nets know how much the Celtics rely on him, so he needs to be spectacular against a team whose entire game plan is built around preventing him from being spectacular.

5. The Celtics shot 9-for-17 from 3-point range in the first half while Brooklyn shot 1-for-13. In the second half, the Celtics finished 2-for-12 from deep while the Nets shot 7-for-21 — an uninspiring total, but plenty in tandem with the firepower of their stars. Both of the Celtics’s second-half 3-pointers — a pair of triples by Kemba Walker, who struggled mightily from the field — came when the game was already decided.

More than anything, that was the difference for the Celtics. Teams can’t afford to go cold against the Nets, and they certainly can’t afford to make their first 3-pointer of the second half trailing by double digits in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter.

“You can guard these guys really well, but you’re still going to have to score,” Stevens said. “So we need that same emphasis as we move forward. We got another couple days to get ready for Game 2. That’s going to be really intense. But hey, our guys are ready to compete and we’ll look forward to that. And we’ll be better. We’ll attack them better.”

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