“I Mean It’s Pretty Difficult”- Kevin Durant Reveals How Opposing Sides Must Feel Playing against Them
The Brooklyn Nets dominated the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of their first-round series, winning 141-126. Kevin Durant scored 42 points and Kyrie Irving added 39 as the Brooklyn Nets gained control in the second quarter and pushed away in the third. The Nets, the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed, are up to three games to one in the series and can clinch a trip to the conference semifinals for the first time since 2014. If they win, they’ll play in the second round against the third-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, who have already defeated the Miami Heat 4-0 in the first round of the playoffs.
James Harden turned into the creator this time and took the role of assisting his teammates in a massive victory over the Celtics. Harden finished the game with 23 points but what’s more impressive is that he grabbed a whopping 18 assists in the game. It looks better when we hear that the whole Celtics managed just 24 assists. Harden’s 18 assists were one shy of Jason Kidd’s postseason assist record, which he set against the Toronto Raptors in 2007. Bruce Brown and Joe Harris finished the game with 14 points each. In the post-game interview, Kevin Durant talked about the contribution of the whole team in the victory.
“I mean it’s pretty difficult we are all in the same groof. We’re taking efficient shots and not turning the ball over. So, we’re in the game with nine turnovers and 29 assists. James has six of those turnovers and a couple of those came late. So, we kept the ball in our hands and Kyrie and myself tried to get efficient baskets every time down. Our teammates did a great job of being available for us. Bruce, Joe, Landry, Tyler and Nic Claxton. I think everybody came in and gave us good minutes,” Durant said in the post-match interview after scoring 42 points.
Durant scored 40 points for the 12th time in his career in a postseason game, shooting 14 of 20 from the field and making all 11 of his free throws. Durant came just one point short of Vince Carter’s single-game postseason scoring record established against Miami in 2006. The Nets scored 57.8% from the field, while their top trio of Kevin Durant, Irving, and Harden combined to shoot 33-of-56 from the field, setting a franchise record for points in a playoff game.
Jayson Tatum scored 40 points to follow up his 50-point performance on Friday, but Boston’s defense had no answers for Brooklyn’s trio. For the rest of the night, it was literally just Brooklyn scoring after scoring. With one quarter remaining, the Celtics found themselves in a 21-point hole, trailing 112-91. As the fourth quarter began, things did not get any better for Boston, as the Nets hit a pair of early three-pointers that seemed to be the final nail in the coffin. The Celtics went behind 3-1 in the series after the rest of the fourth quarter was a formality.
It is going to be really hard for the Celtics to bounce back from this loss at home. The Nets have home advantage in the fifth game of the playoff series first round as they host the Celtics at the Barclays Center. They need answers from their defense in the next game as they will be looking to shut down the Nets’ trio to cut the lead to one game.
