Getty Boston's Tristan Thompson acknowleges the crowd as he walks onto the court during the first quarter of a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on May 12, 2021 in Cleveland, Ohio.
There’s plenty of built-in rivalry elements between the Brooklyn Nets and the Boston Celtics, including, of course, Kyrie Irving matching up against his former team, and the age-old hostility between New York and Boston.
This season, though, it feels more like Brooklyn versus the world.
With a Big Three of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Irving, Brooklyn has a target on its back. With mid-season acquisitions that dominated the headlines like their signing of Blake Griffin, the Nets have often been painted as the villains of the NBA.
On Monday, one Celtics starter added more fuel to the fire.
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Tristan Thompson Takes Shot at Nets
Celtics center Tristan Thompson had four points and 10 rebounds in 24 minutes in Game 1 of the first-round series, which the Nets took 104-93. On Monday, after a practice, he added a bit more spice to the series when asked how the Celtics could go about getting beyond Brooklyn’s swagger.
“You said they’re playing with a swagger?” Thompson said, via CLNS Media. “A swagger.
“I mean, listen, you have a team with Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, you better step on the court feeling good about yourself. But we don’t give a s*** about that. At the end of the day, they put their socks on, their shoes on just like us. So we’re not intimidated or anything like that. That swagger thing, I don’t even know — I don’t even know how to answer that.”
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Brooklyn’s Big Three Sets Tone in Game 1
Saturday’s Game 1 represented just the ninth time that the Nets had Durant, Harden and Irving all healthy and available for a game since the team traded for Harden in January. The result: 82 of the team’s 104 points were scored by Brooklyn’s Big Three.
“I think that’s something that we have the luxury of having those guys that are so difficult to defend in iso situations,’’ Nets coach Steve Nash said, per The New York Post. “But that’s not necessarily the way we want to go. We were probably more iso-heavy the first game because it’s all so new … and Boston switched a lot of stuff. I think that pushed us toward more isos.
“But it will be interesting to see, it’s just all so new that we, like I don’t know, if that’s going to be something that we dominate the direction we go in or if we’re going to be able to get away from that more so and run more action. We got to figure this out as we go so it’s hard to answer that question. The luxury is they all are incredible isolation players and it’s not the worst thing in the world, but I would like us to get more to where we’re playing off one another.’’
As for the rest of the Nets’ supporting cast, there weren’t a whole lot of scoring opportunities left. Joe Harris, with his 10 points, was the only other Brooklyn player to register a double-digit scoring total. Blake Griffin and Jeff Green played a combined 45 minutes and mustered only four points between them.
Still, Green said he expects more chances moving forward.
“We’re going to get shots,’’ Green said, per The Post. “All the focus is going to those three, and we’ve just got to stay ready and be ready to shoot.’’
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