Brooklyn Nets: 3 battles Brooklyn must win to defeat Boston

The Brooklyn Nets will kick off their first-round playoff series against the rival Boston Celtics tonight, and even though the Celtics will not have the services of Jaylen Brown, the combination of Brad Stevens on the sideline and Jayson Tatum on the floor could make it tough for the Nets to prevail.

Of course, the Nets are favored in this matchup, as they will be able to lean on the combination of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden to guide them on the offensive end of the floor. Despite that star power, the roster is thin elsewhere, and that could lead to some troubles for Boston.

There is a path to victory for the Celtics, even if they will have to withstand regular broadsides from three of the 15 best players in the league to do so. It involves attacking the Nets in a few key areas that could destabilize Brooklyn if Steve Nash fails to adjust properly. 

These three matchups will be key not only in deciding who will win Game 1, but who will take home this series as a whole and by how much.

The Brooklyn Nets must win these 3 battles.

1. Turnovers

As trite as it may sound, turning the ball over more rarely is a hallmark of a successful team. Brooklyn has taken that message to heart this year, as adjustments on the offensive end have seen them jump up to No. 13 in the league in terms of the fewest average turnovers per game. Boston is close behind at No. 16.

While Durant, Irving, and Harden are all elite at their craft, the tendency to play hero ball and surrender possession is always there, and they will get bitten once or twice per game by this tactic, the key for Brooklyn will be to limit the amount of iso time everyone gets in order to keep the ball moving.

The Nets can’t turn the ball over a bunch.

The Celtics, even without Brown, can hang their hat on perimeter defense, as Marcus Smart will give the Nets plenty of problems. Giving a Celtics offense that is fresh off of Jayson Tatum dropping 50 points would be a foolish strategy from Nash that could lead to some losses.

Nash may not have made it to the Finals, but he’s been a veteran of enough playoff series as a favorite to know that you should never let a team like Boston off of the mat. Playing smart, measured basketball should give the Nets and their hyper-efficient offense more chances to sink Boston’s ship.

2. 3-point shooting

Despite the fact that Mike D’Antoni is on this coaching staff and this roster is full of shooters at every position, the Nets are skilled enough where they don’t have to live and die by the 3-point shot. Despite that, Brooklyn is second in the league in 3-point percentage, trailing only the Los Angeles Clippers.

Durant is shooting an insane 45% from beyond the 3-point line, Irving just put the finishing touches on a 50-40-90 season, and Joe Harris led the NBA in 3-point percentage for the second time in three seasons by draining 47.5% of his shots.

The Brooklyn Nets must shoot well from deep.

The Celtics have some quality rim protectors, and they could pack the paint in order to turn this into a jump-shooting contest by limiting the number of times Kyrie and Harden can wiggle into the paint. If another D’Antoni team goes cold in the postseason, that could be very troubling for the league.

The Celtics are no slouches from behind the arc as well, and Tatum showed that he could take advantage of Brooklyn not playing up to their potential by taking over the game. If the Celtics are willing to let the Nets shoot, they need to convert those opportunities to take home the win.

3. Rebounding

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the Nets should be worried about their frontcourt rotation. DeAndre Jordan can snag some boards, and Blake Griffin has proven he can get a bucket or two, but neither of them have made a huge impact when it comes to stopping opponents when they get into the paint.

The lack of rebounding, made worse by the fact Jordan is seeing his minutes reduced due to his nonexistent offense, is evidenced by the fact that the Nets are 18th in the league in rebounding. With Time Lord Robert Williams ready to go in this series, the Nets’ interior skills will be stretched thin.

The Brooklyn Nets could lose games on the interior.

We know that the Nets might as well start with 65 points on the board thanks to Durant, Harden, and Irving, but that interior remains a problem despite the fact Griffin has started to play some solid basketball as the small-ball center they needed. Nicolas Claxton and Jeff Green will need to supplement them on the bench.

The nets have plenty of advantages, but they have one clear flaw that teams have been exploiting over and over again. Winning in the postseason is directly correlated to identifying the problems and coming up with solutions to make sure Boston gets ground into the dirt if they try to attack them.

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