A water bottle even flew out of the audience in the direction of Irving, who himself had been active for the East Coast team from 2017 to 2019 and had heated the minds of the home fans with his provocative action.
Earlier that day, the Celtics lost to the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the playoffs.
Eleven months later, the two rivals face off once more as first-round opponents in the NBA Playoffs – but this time there’s one key difference: the roles are completely reversed. (DATA: All tables of the NBA)
NBA: Swap roles between Celtics and Nets
Last year, Boston had to fight its way into the playoffs via the play-in tournament. Now it was the Nets who had to take this detour and bought their ticket in seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
A situation that seemed unthinkable at the beginning of the season. In the eyes of many experts, Brooklyn, with its superstar trio of Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden, was the clear favorite for the title.
The fuss regarding Irving not wanting to be vaccinated caused unnecessary excitement. Due to the Corona rules of the city of New York City at the time, he was not allowed to play in home games.
The Nets were concerned that this constant change in the starting five would cause more unrest and therefore initially decided not to let Irving play at all.
Nets chaos leads to harden trade
After Durant, who had carried the team up to that point, was injured, the Nets got off track early on. This sporting imbalance in turn contributed to Harden’s growing frustration.
According to media reports, the 32-year-old had been openly criticized by Durant for his fitness from the training camp in October. Differences arose that might not be resolved either in private discussions or with the support of the trainers or supervisors.
So Harden isolated himself more and more – and finally forced a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers. The Nets are replacing him with Ben Simmons, who has refused to play for the Sixers since the start of the season.
Irving is now allowed to play in all games once more – but the Nets drama is not over yet: Simmons has not played a single minute for the Nets due to back problems.
According to current reports, however, he might now celebrate his Nets debut as the series progresses once morest the Celtics. However, the timing, following almost a year without professional basketball, harbors great risks.
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Celtics turn up and put up the best defense
The adversary from Boston is currently on a high.
After a disappointing start to the season, head coach Ime Udoka’s men have really delivered in recent months. The Celtics were even the best team in the league for long stretches in the second half of the season.
A few statistics prove that: The franchise has won 24 of the last 30 games, and in the current year they have the best defense (105.2 allowed points per 100 possessions) and the second best offense (117.9).
18 wins by at least 20 points also helped Boston finish the regular season in second place.
Theis explains success of the Boston Celtics
Daniel Theis, who has been playing in Boston once more since February, provided an explanation for the current success – at that time the Celtics were still in seventh place.
“Automatisms were found and built up and everyone understood that you shouldn’t fall back into old habits,” said the German international spox: “Once you start playing so successfully and win a series of games, you don’t want to stop.”
Of course, Schröder alone cannot be held responsible for the previous phase of weakness, but in another trade he was replaced by Derrick White, who simply fits better into the Celtics’ team and game.
Williams injury spoils mood
While White isn’t one of the most flashy or exciting players on the team, he tirelessly contributes at every stage of the game, especially on defense.
The mood in Boston might hardly be better if an injury didn’t spoil the mood a bit.
Robert Williams tore his left meniscus in late March and will be absent from the Celtics for at least the Nets series. The center is considered one of the central players on the defensive, which is why a failure is to be rated as serious.
Whether he can intervene once more in the course of the playoffs remains to be seen.
Nets professional with declaration of war – Durant becomes clear
Brooklyn pro Bruce Brown even took the failure as an opportunity to declare war following beating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the play-in tournament.
“The fact that they don’t have Robert Williams is a huge deal. We can attack Daniel Theis and Al Horford on the inside,” said Brown, who was born in Boston.
Teammate Durant knew that Brown was only motivating the Celtics more and tried to slow down: “These guys can do the same as Williams. We respect our opponents. We don’t need to talk regarding what we’re going to do regarding them.”
Then Durant was even more explicit: “I didn’t like that. We don’t have to say shit like that. Let’s just go out there and play.”
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Will there be a Celtics revenge?
Under this motto, the Nets want to repeat their success from last year, when they did not burn in the five games of the playoff series once morest the Celtics.
In fact, some bookmakers also see the Nets as favorites in the current series despite the weak season. This is probably mainly due to Durant, who can sometimes lead his team to victory on his own.
However, the other side not only offers the best defense, but also two outstanding scorers in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The chance of revenge should motivate them even more.
In any case, the signs point to an explosive duel with Zoff potential – following all, the Celtics fans certainly haven’t forgotten the logo stamper.
