Getty Brooklyn's DeAndre Jordan reacts during warm ups before a game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center on March 23, 2021 in Portland, Oregon.
After a couple of decisive wins to begin their first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics, the Nets looked very much mortal in their Game 3 loss at TD Garden. Brooklyn and its Big Three of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving need to find a way to slow down Boston’s biggest threats.
With that in mind, could it be time reintroduce a former starter into the mix for the remainder of the series? At least one Nets beat writer thinks so.
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DeAndre Jordan Time?<h/2>
Jayson Tatum was a problem for the Nets on Friday — obviously. The 23-year-old and two-time All-Star dropped 50 points on Brooklyn on 16-of-30 shooting from the field while also adding seven assists and six rebounds. But so too was Tristan Thompson, the Celtics center who went for 19 points (on 8-of-13 shooting) and 13 rebounds, including a whopping nine on the offensive glass. Boston took advantage of those second-chance opportunities in its 125-119 win.
The Nets can’t really afford to let Thompson have his way down low again. Jeff Green is not the answer — he’s likely out for the remainder of the first-round series due to suffering a strained plantar fascia in Game 2. Nic Claxton might not be the solution either — the 22-year-old’s inexperience showed in Game 3.
“Nic had an up and down night. Young player trying to figure it out in a big moment. That’s gonna come for Nic,” Nets coach Steve Nash said, per Winfield. “We believe in him, we want to support him.”
All of that being said, it might be time for the return of a familiar face.
“(Thompson’s) performance should send Steve Nash to the end of the bench, where he buried DeAndre Jordan for the latter stretch of the season,” Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News wrote in an article that published Saturday.
I have an unpopular opinion
Jordan had an up and down season wherein the 32-year-old looked a clear step or two (or three) behind the player he was when he twice led the league in rebounding in 2014 and 2015. When the team acquired LaMarcus Aldridge — who has since retired due to a heart condition — Jordan was relegated to the bench. But the 6-foot-11 center has the playoff experience, the size and the pedigree to give Brooklyn a boost on the interior.
Still, Nash downplayed the notion of bringing Jordan into the mix, though he didn’t outright dismiss it.
“Anyone can play for us. You look down our bench, we believe and trust in all these guys,” Nash said, per Winfield. “There’s probably not enough minutes to go around but we can always push different buttons and play different guys and that kind of happens from a judging the flow of the game standpoint.”
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Green’s Absence Hurts Nets
No, he’s not a member of The Big Three. On most nights, he’s not even a starter. But the Nets still lose a lot by not having Green available to play.
“I think he brings a versatility to us offensively and defensively and creates some spacing out there in terms of our shooting,” Irving said of Green, per Winfield. “But just like the season, we’ve had kind of that next guy up mentality where guys have to fill in. And it may take a game or two to figure that out. But this is the playoffs. We’ve just got to figure it out on the fly.”
They’ve got to do the same with slowing down Tatum, who they managed to hold to 15.5 points per game through the series’ first two contests before he went off for 50 in Game 3.
“Just having that fight and just trying to make it as hard as possible for them in general, and for Tatum,” Nash said, per Winfield. “We know what he’s capable of. He’s had three other I think 50-point performances before this one in the last three or four weeks,” Nash said. “We did a good job at home but that’s a job that’s gonna take a lot of resilience and continue to be there to guard him and to make it difficult for him as a group. Put different people on him, be able to support those who need support and be able to lock him up when we have guys that can guard him.”
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