BROOKLYN, NY -- Before the series started, the prevailing argument for picking the Brooklyn Nets, or at least expecting a long, drawn-out series, was that Brooklyn has Kevin Durant, and the Celtics do not.
It’s sound reasoning. Durant has carried a team far in the playoffs before, and he’s capable of inconceivable things on the floor. The number one story of this series after three games has been Boston’s ability to beat Durant into near submission, neutralizing the one guy the Nets needed to make the rest of their plan (whatever that is) work.
“I'm just trying to figure out where the help was coming from, how I’m guarded in certain actions, and where to make the right pass, when to be aggressive,” Durant said after Game 3, admitting he has been overthinking things this series. “Sometimes basketball is when you just flow, when you don't have to think about shit, you don't have to worry about the little stuff. In my mind, I'm just trying to see how I can help everyone how I can. Sometimes I end up taking myself out of the game.”
Nothing slows a player down as much as thinking. Durant is right about the flow of basketball. The game is played at its best when there's no real thinking involved. Practices, film sessions, and previous games are all about building the requisite muscle memory to simply execute almost as if under hypnosis. Play calls are like trigger words that set into motion a series of events, and within that, players see things on the floor and react appropriately to take advantage of the split second of opportunity. If the player is thinking instead of reacting, those opportunities disappear.
“The big piece of (the defensive game plan) was different matchups, different coverages, and just keeping him off balance and keeping him guessing some to some extent,” Ime Udoka said “So you try to put some hesitation or doubt in their mind, have physicality and not give him a lot of clean looks that can get him going. And I think we've done this for the most part. Giving him -- showing him a crowd, obviously, taking away the air space and making him shoot -- just shoot the shots that we'd like. That's the first piece of it. But guys behind it, team defense, making plays, whether it's a called play or just reads on their own, has been at a high level.”
Durant’s frustration is evident on the court, which when it’s become malignant. In this series of Durant turnovers, you see in the first one how upset he is about Kyrie Irving setting up in the corner instead of rolling. You see it very demonstrably at the beginning and the end of the play. In the second play, the resignation creeps in, and he barely tries to help on Jaylen Brown. On the last play, the turnover that sealed the game, he just turns and walks off.
“I would like to think that what we’re doing is getting in his head and causing him to do the second guessing,” Marcus Smart said. “You play against one of the greatest players in this world to do this, you can’t let him be comfortable. You have to have him second guessing. It’s a game of rhythm, runs, and we all know he can get into one of the greatest rhythms and runs all by himself, along with Kyrie. I would like to think we have something to do with that.”
Where Durant is overthinking instead of reacting, the Celtics defense is doing the opposite. They aren’t just executing a perfect game plan, they're freelancing within it with tremendous results. Double teams, scram-switching to prevent mismatches, and changing how and when they switch in general has added to the confusion. The Celtics are exploring their defensive studio space, and they're thriving.
“There’s a lot of things Ime has called on the fly, and especially in a playoff game,” Smart said. “It’s loud in the building, it’s hard to hear what he’s calling, let alone your teammates right there. So for us to do what we do on the fly has come a long way from earlier in the season. But it’s one of our best attributes. It allows us to use our instincts and be us - not robots, just play. Use our IQ and everything we’ve built up over the years from playing basketball.”
Within that are tremendous individual performances. First and foremost, Jayson Tatum taking on the challenge of guarding Durant one-on-one. The Celtics switch a lot, giving just about everyone a turn on Durant at some point, but he’s also, obviously, a big isolation player. Tatum is taking that challenge head one.
In Game 3, Tatum held Durant to two points and three turnovers in more than eight minutes of defensive time. In 10:30 in Game 2, Durant went 0-7 during Tatum’s time defending him, hitting only four free throws. Durant shot 2-6 with four turnovers against Tatum in Game 1.
Not bad for a guy who is also asked to carry a bulk of the scoring load.
“Obviously I've gotten better defensively, but I've always, especially my first year when Brad was coaching, we had (Irving) and Gordon (Hayward) and Al (Horford), so part of me getting on the floor was playing defense,” Tatum said. “So I've always known that and as I've gotten older and my game's progressed, just wanting to be as best as I can. A complete player, playmaking, scoring, and playing that side of the ball. Cause not a lot of people do it, so it's just something to try to separate myself.”
The Celtics are in Durant’s head, though it’s not exactly the way people take a comment like that. It’s not the “rent free” type of psychological damage that is most commonly associated with the phrase. It’s just that Durant is now thinking about where Celtics defenders are at a level he wouldn’t normally. Boston is forcing the ball out of his hands even on plays where Durant might be able to get clean looks, just because he’s anticipating something.
“He was looking to find his teammates because he's been loaded up on, and probably passed up on some looks just because he's expecting guys to come,” Steve Nash said after the game. “When you're giving them the ball, they're running out laying it in, it's tough to overcome. A lot of tough possessions where we uncharacteristically gave it up and they're going the other way. And it's been a theme.”