Getty Bruce Brown #1 reacts with Kevin Durant #7 and Nicolas Claxton #33 of the Brooklyn Nets after grabbing a loose ball during the first half against the Chicago Bulls
The Brooklyn Nets officially secured the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs on Tuesday night. With their April 12 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA play-in tournament, Brooklyn is now set to play the Boston Celtics in the first round. Game one between the two teams is currently scheduled for 3:30 p.m. EST on Sunday, April 17, in Boston.
Everything went right for the Nets to get to this point. Brooklyn was expected to enter the play-in tournament as the 10th seed less than two weeks ago. That would mean that the Nets would have to win two sudden death play-in games just to be the Eastern Conference’s eighth seed. Three teams stood in front of them at the time. However, each blundered the opportunity, and Brooklyn entered the play-in game with the seventh-best record in the East. That has to leave the Nets feeling good, right? It’s safe to say Bruce Brown was.
Bruce Brown Postgame
Nets starter Bruce Brown had a strong showing Tuesday against the Cavs with nearly a triple-double. Cleveland often times sagged off Brown in their defensive scheme to focus on defending Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. Brown took advantage of the opportunity, finishing the game with 18 points. Even though Brown had already made a statement on the court, he added to it with some bold comments after the game.
At the postgame press conference, Brown, who was wearing a shirt with the word “Boston” on it, was asked about playing the Celtics at TD Garden.
“I can’t wait,” said Brown, who is a Boston native. “Them not having Robert Williams is huge. Now we can attack (Al) Horford and (Daniel) Theis.”
Kevin Durant’s Reaction
When Durant was asked about Brown’s postgame comments to which, he quickly replied, “That’s the caffeine pride talking. Them two dudes (Horford and Theis) can do the same stuff (as Williams),” Durant told reporters. “It ain’t going to be that easy. I’ll tell you that.”
His comments didn’t stop there. “We respect our opponents. We don’t need to talk about, you know, what we’re going to do to them. I just don’t like that. But that’s how Bruce is. … He keeps that same energy throughout the whole season. But we don’t need to say s*** like that. Let’s just go out there and go hoop.”
Brooklyn versus Boston could be one of the most exciting matchups in the postseason. One Twitter quickly pointed out the moment a rivalry might have been born, when Kyrie Irving purposely stepped on the mid-court image of Lucky the Leprechaun in May 2021.
k fine run it back
Brooklyn’s play-in win gives the team some valuable nights off and some hope of a Ben Simmons first-round return. According to an April 10 tweet by The Athletic’s Shams Charania, “there’s optimism” that Simmons, who has not played at all this season, could make his debut against the Celtics.
How the Nets guard Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown will be one of the most intriguing questions of the first round. When asked how the team would approach defending the two Celtics stars, Durant replied: “S***. That’s a tough question. He’s one of those players you gotta play hard and see what happens. He’s just so talented and skilled and efficient in what he does. You just got to play hard. I expect us to.”