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Despite leading by as many as 17 points in the first half, the Brooklyn Nets suffered yet another playoff collapse in Game 2 of their first-round matchup with the Boston Celtics. As the series shifts to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the Nets face a must-win situation against the Celtics in Game 3. A loss would put them down 0-3 in the series, a deficit that no team in NBA history has ever overcome.
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Steve Nash May Be Under Fire if Celtics Eliminate Nets
One thing that has been obvious in Brooklyn’s matchup with Boston is that Celtics head coach Ime Udoka has had his team overprepared for the series. He also has made the necessary adjustments every time the Nets seem to have the Celtics figured out. For the Nets, they have struggled mightily, and at times it just feels like they have been shellshocked by the Celtics defense, and head coach Steve Nash has been unable to adjust.
NBA insider Shams Charania of “The Athletic” appeared on the “Pat McAfee Show” on April 22. When McAfee asked Charania about the status of Nash after this season, the insider said that if Brooklyn were to get eliminated in the first round, Nash and others could be on the hot seat.
“If you lose in the first round, any time you have Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on your team and you lose in the first round, everyone gets questioned. I think people on the roster, are these the right players? Everyone’s up for it, you know,” Charania said on the April 22nd edition of the “Pat McAfee Show”.
“They’ve gone through so many highs and lows but I think overall there’s gonna be a lot of reflection within. Like if you’re Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving and you do lose this series, you have to look internally, you have to look at the roster, the coaching staff, have they done enough? In the front office, do you bring in the right players? But I don’t know if that would be the blow-it-up move as far as this team being able to get by the first round.”
Shams: 2022 Is Not ‘End-all-Be-all’ Year for Nets
But despite Charania’s expectation that everyone could be under a microscope if the Celtics eliminate the Nets, he doesn’t think that the Nets will blow up the team because of a first-round exit. Especially given everything that the team has gone through this season.
“I don’t see this being an end all be all year, I think even Kevin Durant has hinted at it in his comments in the last month or so, he said like, he’s got his mindset on the next three or four years. He signed an extension last summer, his mind is on how can we continue to get better, his mind is on you know, how can we for two to three years have a window to compete for a championship,” Charania said.
“ And of course, they’ve gone through the wringer, you know Kyrie Irving gets sent away from the team, brought back to the team in January, the mandate, which I know on this show, we’ve talked about the mandate enough here, they’ve dealt with that aspect, that gets lifted and then the James Harden situation, he’s out, and then they get Ben Simmons and Ben Simmons’ back flares up.”
Despite being down 0-2, the first-round clash between the Celtics and Nets is far from over. Brooklyn still has an opportunity to climb back into this series, but they will have to do it one step at a time. The first step is to get into the win column. They will have a chance to do that in Game 3.
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