Celtics vs. Nets: Jayson Tatum, global defense has singled out Boston as the team to beat in the East

The Boston Celtics all but ended the Brooklyn Nets season on Saturday with a 109-103 win in Game 3 of their first-round series. No team in NBA history has ever recovered from a 3-0 deficit to win a series, and that’s the predicament the Nets find themselves in now. This one is over, and at this point, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a more impressive first-round performance.

The Nets are a flawed team, no doubt. But it’s still about as tough as a first round matchup that a 2 seed will ever see. We’re talking about a perfectly healthy Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and they can’t get an inch of space against this Celtics defense.

Durant could muster just 11 shots on Saturday and is shooting 36% in the series with 17 turnovers. In isolation, Jayson Tatum smothers his space, and if Durant tries to put the ball on the ground, there’s a second defender, if not two, slumping on top of him to deflect passes or force him to a dead stop , pivot everywhere , and look for a bailout. Frankly, that’s all Durant can even do to receive a clean pass early in possession in the first place.

The nets are over now, but maybe Steve Nash would have been smart to let Durant get the ball downfield, or at least come in for an early DHO, and throw the pick-and-roll when it was clear he couldn’t get go in solitary Game 3; at least that would eliminate the fight to receive the pass and he would get a downhill momentum to get into his jumper instead of just catching on the wing or elbow with Tatum/Brown draped over him at which point he has to attack from a stopping position with secondary defenders just waiting to pounce.

But listen, it’s not that simple. There are no easy answers against this Boston defense. Durant put the ball in that series and he was harassed to death as soon as he crossed the half court. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more Durant who doesn’t want to dribble against that pressure than it is Nash who doesn’t want him to initiate. Rest assured, whatever the Nets do, Boston will adapt. Either way, it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say it’s as bottled up as Durant has ever been in a playoff.

Irving, meanwhile, was 0-for-7-3 on Saturday and 10-for-30 overall in the final two games of this series. The Celtics decided not to let Durant beat them, but it’s not like everyone, Irving or otherwise, looked wide open because of that attention.

Boston’s defense hits the trifecta: it’s littered with elite individual defenders in Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart who can, one-on-one, legitimately frustrate perhaps the all-time leading isolation scorer, he has the versatility and length to change any action, and he has the discipline and desire to turn around to cover shooters who should theoretically stay open following all double teams.

The Celtics are everywhere.

This Boston defense has long been one of the league’s top talking points, and yet it’s still better than advertised. On top of that, Tatum takes another leap forward. You can talk about the attention Durant is getting, but it’s not like Tatum is being ignored, but he had 39 points on Saturday and a 29.6 series average.

The Nets forced Tatum to be a volume scorer (he needed 29 shots on Saturday), but the fact is, he’s capable of getting those shots on his terms. That’s what we expect from Durant, who’s not supposed to be a guy who can be forced to be a passer for an entire game, let alone most of a series.

Conclusion: Tatum and Brown beat Durant and Irving 62-32 on Saturday. Of course, the Boston defense is a different animal from the Brooklyn defense that Tatum and Brown face; it’s not apples to apples here.

But that’s the point: the Celtics, both individually and collectively, are a two-way street, and that’s why I think we need to start calling them the favorites to come out of the East. I know the Bucks, Heat and Sixers will have something to say about it, but this Boston team is something else right now. With the return of Robert Williams, they are equipped to defend Giannis Antetokounmpo wherever possible in a likely second-round clash, and Khris Middleton could very well not play in this series.

There simply isn’t a weakness to be found on the Celtics right now. Sending the Nets off is now a formality, and Boston is clearly heading for bigger and brighter stages as these playoffs unfold.