BOSTON — Kevin Durant missed 15 shots and turned the ball over six times in the Nets’ Game 1 loss to the Celtics on Sunday.
But the Nets only lost by one on a broken-play, buzzer-beating game-winner from Jayson Tatum.
As a result, it’s difficult to strike a balance: Yes, the Nets had some glaring shortcomings in Sunday’s loss. The Celtics bullied them with physicality on the defensive end and won the rebound margin by 13.
But Durant, revered as one of basketball’s great equalizers, had an uncharacteristically poor game by his own measure.
“I know what I did. I wish I had played better,” he said after Tuesday’s Nets practice at Harvard’s Lavietes Pavilion. “We probably would have won the game, but I can’t let it get in the way too much.”
Instead, Durant said, the Nets want to look at the big picture, which isn’t his shooting efficiency or his carelessness with the ball, but a seven-game playoff series against the Celtics in its totality.
“It’s a thin line you are trying to cross when you want to focus on you and try to be the best you can, but also realize it’s a team game,” he said. “It’s good going through tough games. You try to evaluate and move on from them.”
The Nets, for what it’s worth, don’t believe the Celtics played their best basketball, either, and it’s why merely chalking this game up to Durant’s poor shooting could be fool’s gold. Four Celtics scored 20 or more, but their team as a whole only generated 17 bench points. They turned the ball over 14 times to 16 for the Nets and also fumbled a 15-point third-quarter lead.
“I think we look at this as we had a great opportunity to win the game, but did not play well,” Nets coach Steve Nash said. “I think the Celtics are probably looking at it, they didn’t play great either. So they were able to get across the line at the buzzer, but I’m not sure either team looks at the game and says they played great.”
But in a game where Kyrie Irving scored 39 points while flipping off and cursing out Celtics fans — a gesture that earned him a $50,000 fine from the league on Tuesday — Durant’s 9-of-24 shooting night for just 23 points left a sour taste in the team’s mouth.
“I think we can improve some of the looks, but I think a lot of the looks are ones Kevin is able to handle and make,” said Nash. “So I wouldn’t overreact there. Kevin can play better and will play better. It’s our job to help him, but Kevin knows how to adjust.
“Look, the Celtics did a great job. They made it difficult, but I wouldn’t say that Kevin’s going to have too many days like that where he struggles,” Nash continued. “He’s a winner, he’s an incredible talent, he’s able to adjust. And I know he’s excited to get back on the floor.”
Durant is a walking bucket who averaged 29.9 points per game this season. Against a scrambling, blitzing, trapping Celtics defense, he started Game 1 just 2 for 10 from the field in the first half before finding his footing in the third quarter. Three of his six turnovers came in the first quarter.
“That physicality they got their hands on some basketballs, some 50-50 balls which was able to get them some fast break points,” Durant said, noting that he liked the shots he got, the flow of the offense and the ball movement the Nets played with in Game 1. “It’s just a matter of when they swarm you with their length when you drive and they put their hands in the passing lanes and stuff, you gotta be more conscious of that. That’s what they’re really good at. If we keep the ball in our hands and get a good shot up every time down, we put ourselves in a good position.”
Durant, a four-time scoring champion and two-time NBA Finals MVP, said he hopes to build on the rhythm he found in the second half when his jumper started falling. More importantly, he wants the team to continue to play well because in a game where his shot was broken in the first half, the Nets still had a chance to win at the end of the night.
“Just keep playing,” he said. “Bad games happen. Off shooting nights happen.
“In hindsight, you could watch every play throughout the game and say that when you lose by a point. It’s easy to go back and look at each play, but if we consistently play with energy and effort on both ends of the floor, I think we put ourselves in a good position regardless of anything. That’s pretty much how we try to approach games.”
