BOSTON — Kevin Durant had a bad day, and it cost the Nets Game 1.
Another could cost them the series.
“We have another opportunity to come here and get a ‘W’ on their home floor,” Durant said. “We’ve got to try to move past this; look at film but move past it and get ready for Game 2.”
Durant can — and has to — get better. And that’s something rarely said, with a rare off game being a shock to the system.
And despite it, the Nets only lost Sunday’s playoff opener 115-114 on Jayson Tatum’s last-second layup. That Durant got caught flat-footed on that buzzer-beater underscored how poor his afternoon was.
The Nets need him back to his normal self for Wednesday’s Game 2.
“They did a good job forcing me away, helping in the paint. I just have to be more fundamental in my moves,” Durant said. “Some shots went in and out for me. I played fast and turned the ball over. I’ve just got to slow down and play my game. But they did a good job of making me see bodies.”
And feel bodies.
Durant didn’t just simply play fast. Boston sped him up, harassing him into shooting 9 of 24 with six turnovers to finish minus-13.
“Teams are going to be designed to take away some of my catches and my opportunities,” Durant said. “I’ve been dealing with it for a while, so it’s on me to keep playing through it. I got some good looks there in the first, second half, they didn’t fall, maybe rushing a little bit. My fundamentals weren’t down, trying to beat [the double team], trying to play before the help comes.
“Sometimes I rushed my shots. By looking at the game and seeing where I can be better individually and shifting my mindset, see where I go from there. It’s a journey, looking forward to the next game.”
The Nets need to adjust for that next game, because Game 1 was the most brutal defense Durant has faced since last year’s playoff loss to Milwaukee. PJ Tucker had roughed him up off the ball, and Boston coach Ime Udoka — a Steve Nash assistant at the time — took notes that he put to use Sunday.
“They were really physical, putting their hands on him a lot. They definitely crowded his space. The physicality, they were able to really junk him and get two hands on him more than the game warrants,” Nash said. “Kevin’s Kevin Durant for a reason. He figures things out on his own very, very well.”
While many teams have blitzed Durant after he gets the ball, the Celtics didn’t wait that long. Their fronting and physical ball denial made it hard for him to even get the ball. He started out 1-for-6 with three turnovers in the first quarter.
“The dude is 7-foot with a shot like that. It’s hard to really stop him,” Marcus Smart said. “But you just have to make it as hard and tough the whole game as you can and just give him different looks, and that’s what we did.”
Tatum, Grant Williams and Al Horford late took turns on him, but Boston blowing up the Nets’ offensive actions was the key. They busted up one late pick-and-roll by brazenly pushing Durant while he was screening for Irving. In other cases, Williams and Daniel Theis raked the ball free as he came out of pick-and-rolls.
Durant missed a potential dagger 3 in the waning seconds. And in the single biggest play, when the Nets blitzed Smart, Durant got caught flat-footed, ball-watching on Tatum’s back cut for the winner.
“Nothing to overthink with Kevin Durant: We know who he is. We know he’s going to go back and watch film, prepare,” Irving said. “We know how high his expectations are for himself. So we’re not going to overthink it.”