Getty Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin celebrate at Barclays Center.
The Brooklyn Nets discarded the Boston Celtics in five games during their Eastern Conference Quarterfinals matchup. The Nets were heavy favorites in the series partially due to an injury to Celtics’ star Jaylen Brown. Brown was forced to have wrist surgery that ended his season prematurely. It did not help the Celtics’ situation when their starting point guard Kemba Walker also got injured during the series after hurting his knee in Game 3. On Friday, Walker was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Al Horford and a haul of draft picks.
The Celtics had yet another early exit to the postseason. Despite two trips to the Eastern Conference Finals in the last four years, the Celtics have just not been able to get over the hump. As a result of their first-round exit, the Celtics made some changes to their personnel. Celtics general manager and president of basketball operations, Danny Ainge retired, and Brad Stevens moved up into Ainge’s old position leaving an incredibly attractive head coaching vacancy with two All-Stars like Brown and Jayson Tatum.
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Celtics Player Told Blake Griffin Not to Sign With Boston
The Celtics who were once viewed to have one of the best front offices in the NBA have been exposed for having a chink in their armor. A recent report from Jared Weiss of The Athletic reveals just how bad the Celtics’ front office had become. According to Weiss after Nets’ star Blake Griffin was bought out by his former team, the Detroit Pistons, and became a free agent he was warned by a current Celtics player to not sign with Boston because of the dysfunction within the organization.
“According to a source, Brooklyn’s Blake Griffin asked a Celtics player if he should join the team midseason and was told not to come to Boston because of the apparent dysfunction,” Weiss writes.
“At season’s end, multiple sources close to the players said several members of the locker room were welcoming a coaching change, noting Stevens did not appear to hold key players accountable, with complaints he was favoring Smart over others. The common refrain was that the team should hire a person of color with NBA playing experience to coach, something Stevens seems to be addressing with Chauncey Billups, Ime Udoka, and Darvin Ham getting second interviews, as first reported by ESPN.”
“According to a source, Brooklyn’s Blake Griffin asked a Celtics player if he should join the team midseason and was told not to come to Boston because of the apparent dysfunction.”
– @JaredWeissNBA
(Via @TheAthleticNBA )
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Jeff Green Has Strong Belief in Kevin Durant
The Nets will undoubtedly play their biggest game since the team’s move to Brooklyn in Game 7 against the Milwaukee Bucks. Kevin Durant will head into his fourth career Game 7 against the Bucks, his first since 2018 when the Warriors faced the Rockets in the Western Conference Finals. Durant led Golden State to a win on the road with 34 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists in a game where they trailed by as many as 17 points. Nets’ veteran Jeff Green is expecting much of the same from Durant in Game 7 Against Milwaukee.
“He’s been carrying us, and I believe tonight won’t be no different,” Green said of his expectation of Durant in Game 7 per NetsDaily. “He’s going to go out there and play his heart out and put us on his back and lead us to the win.”
All the chips will be on the table for the Nets in Game 7 against Milwaukee which is set up to be an instant classic. With three former NBA MVPs on the floor expect to see a high-octane shootout.
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