NEW YORK — After the Nets’ stars and offense were stifled by the Celtics’ game plan, Steve Nash teased some tweaks to unlock Kevin Durant but warned against expecting a schematic overhaul for Saturday’s Game 3.
“There’s ways we can help. I think we keep those to ourselves,” the coach said. “Sometimes I think people when we talk about adjustments think of massive scheme shifts. A lot of times it’s like putting your feet two feet in the other direction. It’s not always, you know, some massive theoretical change.”
Nash has fallen under scrutiny after back-to-back late-game meltdowns in Boston, with a common theme being Durant’s struggles against the swarming defense of Celtics coach Ime Udoka. Nash, who was hired by the Nets in 2020 without any prior coaching experience, tried to preach confidence Saturday but also strangely referenced the newness of the roster, as if there should still be a feeling-out period with a 2-0 series deficit and time running out.
The reality is the Nets were assembled with championship aspirations and a first-round elimination would be a disaster.
“I think we have to hold our nerve here. I feel confident in our group,” said Nash, who spent the end of Friday’s practice huddled up with Durant and Kyrie Irving. “Like I keep saying, it’s a new group as well. So we’re still trying to learn to play together. We’ve never been in a playoff environment together. So you’re adding, I don’t know how many it is — four, five rotation guys (out of eight) that are brand new here. By new, got here two months ago. There’s an element of that that we’re hoping we can grow and improve on the fly as well. It’s hard to think let’s change everything when we’re trying to see it for the first time as well and not overreact and recognize that we were very unlucky, although I don’t think we played well, very unlucky not to win by a split second in Game 1 and then had our best (first) half of the series in Game 2 and just didn’t sustain it.”
Nash and the Nets have been frequently bailed out by Durant, including during last year’s playoffs. But in the first two games against the Celtics, the former MVP shot just 32% with 12 turnovers. Part of the problem was an unimaginative offense predicated on isolations, but Durant also appeared flustered by Boston’s top-ranked defense.
“I couldn’t have more faith and trust in Kevin Durant,” Nash said. “Sometimes you go through these little pockets of play. We’re playing a team that’s excellent defensively and a big team. And they do a great job. That doesn’t mean, though, that things can’t change. I think Kevin Durant is one of the best players to ever play the game, and he’ll continue to improve as the series goes on.”
Nash said rotation changes are possible for Game 3 but “nothing is planned.” One player still unavailable is Ben Simmons, who watched the Nets blow a 17-point lead in Game 2.
“The (Celtics) are being physical. They’re loading the paint,” said Simmons, who is hoping to return from his back injury in Game 4. “That’s one thing we saw in the start of the game, we were so much more physical in the first half, and then we kind of got a little shook in that second half and not really the way we were playing at the start.”
