What could have led to this? The Boston Celtics have eliminated the Brooklyn Nets from the playoffs in one swift move. I was expecting the Nets to lose due to the sheer dominance of the Celtics and the precision with which they played. That precision led to a beautiful pass to Jayson Tatum to hit a game-winning lay-up, which can be seen below:

However, the point difference in that game was just 1 point, so I don’t believe that anyone thought for the next game to be 7,6,4 points apart. One thing I think that could have led to this is the Coaching and not being able to switch to the play style of the Celtics and therefore leading to what we saw. One major factor is that Kevin Durant suffered an ACL injury earlier in the season, which sidelined him for around six weeks. Kevin Durant also had to deal with the debacle of Kyrie Irving refusing to get vaccinated, which put lots of stress on him and everyone else on the team and the franchise itself. From here, it can only go up (hopefully).

So what can the Nets do to come back from this? Kyrie said that he’s ready to get better and practice over the summer with his teammates. He was also quoted saying that “he’s not going anywhere.” Finally, what about Ben Simmons? He said he wanted to “get back and help this team win” before game 4 started. This leads me to believe we should see him suiting up next year to help the Brooklyn Nets secure a playoff spot and hopefully win it all. It may be hopeful thinking but let’s all hope for the best and see what developments are made.

-Bilal Kharrat