Game 4 Final: Celtics 116, Nets 112 - Durant comes alive, but C's hold on for sweep

ROUND 1, GAME 4
(2) Boston Celtics vs. (7) Brooklyn Nets
Boston leads 3-0
Barclays Center
7:00 PM - TNT , NBC Sports Boston

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

Boston: Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, Daniel Theis

Brooklyn: Kyrie Irving, Seth Curry, Bruce Brown, Kevin Durant, Andre Drummond

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Ben Simmons is out. After all that build up to a potential return, Simmons has been ruled out with back soreness. 

Let me just say that this whole thing has been a farce. How this was leaked out to the media to get us to a point that he was almost certainly going to make his debut in Game 4, only to say “oh nevermind” makes everyone look bad. 

I don't know who is at fault here, but I’m assuming there's plenty to go around for everyone. Everyone should be embarrassed by this whole debacle. 

- There is no one on Boston’s injury report. 

- Brooklyn is favored by 1

GOING A LITTLE DEEPER

- The job is not done.

While the rest of us might allow ourselves to start game planning for the Milwaukee Bucks (who are up 3-1 on Chicago at the moment), the Celtics themselves seem disciplined and focused.

"The first two games, it could've resulted in losses for us that resulted in wins,” Jaylen Brown said after Game 3. “We came out, took advantage of our opportunity. And now we're fortunately up 3-0. Things could be different, so we want to take that into consideration, watch film and get better. Continue to execute. Come out and get ready on Monday."

The things that made the Nets dangerous before are still in play. Boston has had a tremendous defensive game plan that has worked through three games, but Durant or Irving are capable of getting hot at any time. All it takes is one win to give a team life. 

“We all know exactly what they can do,” Smart said. “And I think that’s what makes us turn it up is we know exactly what these guys are capable of, and we don’t want them to be able to get off to a start to do that to us. So we have to turn it up or it’ll cost us. That’s kind of where our mindset is. We’re not thinking at all that they’re not hitting shots right now so we can calm it down. It’s like, thank God they’re not hitting shots. Fortunately for us, they’re not hitting shots and we’ve got to continue to keep that.”

No team has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series, but Ime Udoka doesn’t want to be the first team to mess around with a lead and make the wrong kind of history.

“I'm a guy that will never count something being done until it's done,” Udoka said. “Ray Allen hit a shot to take away a championship ring my first year as a coach, and so that's always in my mind. And that's what I harp on with our guys. And so, injuries happen, one thing can happen to flip a series, and you don't want to be on the wrong end of that.”

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. The opening punch: Brooklyn has been getting off to good starts in this series, but those leads have faded at different points of the game. With the Nets down 3-0, a concentrated early run by the Celtics could be enough to get Brooklyn to roll over. 

“We want to get off to better starts,” Udoka said after Game 3. “We want to come out and do what we've done this whole series and make it tough on them. That starts to mentally and physically wear on you. More of the same for us, get off to a better start and try to get it over with.”

Don’t play with your food here, Boston. If the Celtics can build a double digit first quarter lead, then we might see garbage time in the fourth. 

2. More Robert Williams: I’m assuming right now that Rob is going to come off the bench because he’s still a little bit limited and the Celtics have been doing well with Theis as the starter. However, there is room for a lot more of him in Game 4. 

“We wanted to keep him less than 20 and we did that,15 and a half,” Udoka said of Williams. “As his confidence in his body and responds to the live game action, that can increase. We'll get with the medical team, talk to him, see how he felt after last night and go from there but technically could have played more minutes than we did last night.”

Udoka added that Williams felt fine after the game, and he’s not on the injury report, so everything is looking good at the moment. 

With Williams in the game, the Celtics now have a second wave of switchable big to throw out there. They're already getting great production from Horford, Theis, and Grant Williams, adding Rob to the mix makes it a lot tougher to believe the Nets are going to be able to score as consistently.

3. Weird Nets lineups: Nash is down 3-0. What does he have to lose? I expect him to go full Homer Simpson when the Itchy and Scratchy land robots turn on the Simpsons. Just throw everything at Boston and see what works?

I can already see something like a Kessler Edwards/LaMarcus Aldridge lineup being effective for six minutes and Nets fans latching onto that as they scream for Nash’s head after the game. 

The Celtics just need to keep attacking the weak points of those lineups and they’ll be fine. 

GAME THREAD

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