The Nets commenced the time as the betting favorites. They finished it the butt of jokes.
Brooklyn, a meant superteam anticipated to acquire the title, experienced a humbling 116-112 Sport 4 loss to the Celtics. A to start with-round sweep introduced their year to an ignominious finish Monday night just before a sellout group of 18,099 at Barclays Center.
“Just disappointment, sadness,” Kyrie Irving mentioned. “But also far more importantly on the optimistic side is commitment. It’s just burning in my coronary heart appropriate now. … So many people preferred to see us fail at this juncture, picked us as contenders and have so substantially to say at this stage. So I’m just utilizing that as gas for the summer.”
It marked a bitter remaining chapter in an unpredictable and unprecedented year that had more melodrama than even undesirable truth Television set could muster. Apart from it was real.
From Irving’s vaccine refusal that led to him lacking above 50 games and James Harden demanding a trade. That offer brought back Ben Simmons, who continue to hasn’t performed owing to bodily and mental woes.
On Monday, this wild trip last but not least went off the rails.
“It was truly significant emotionally this season. We all felt it. I felt like I was letting the workforce down at a level where I was not ready to enjoy,” Irving said. “It became a distraction at occasions. As you see, we experienced some drastic modifications. We lost a franchise player and acquired a franchise player back, but did not get a likelihood to see him on the floor.”
Or even on the bench, with Simmons not sitting down alongside his teammates as they ended up eradicated.
The Celtics go on to the 2nd spherical to encounter the 76ers or Raptors. The underachieving Nets go on to an early offseason to deal with some tricky questions.
Kevin Durant last but not least broke out of a slump with 39 details, but had a high-priced skipped cost-free throw with 22 seconds remaining. And that paled in comparison with Nic Claxton going 1-of-11 at the stripe, tying Wilt Chamberlain (May 8, 1970) for the worst effectiveness in playoff background (least 10 attempts), in accordance to Elias Sporting activities Bureau.
Seth Curry extra 23 factors and Irving 20.
“There’s a great deal of things that aspects in to why we lose, but they were just a better workforce,” Durant said. “They performed that way.”
That’s an understatement. Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 29 points right before fouling out, the Nets got outrebounded 45-38 and struggled vs . Boston’s length.
“I’m the man who doesn’t want excuses. I’ve been section of teams that we didn’t seem for that and I’m not for people excuses,” Goran Dragic mentioned. “We have been just not great adequate and they had been just much better.”
Andre Drummond logged just 3:36 in ceding time to Claxton. Steve Nash went modest but continue to did not get excellent spacing and suffered defensively on the other end.
The Nets trailed by as much as 15, and had been down 90-78 following the third quarter. They did get 3 quick buckets with a Durant fadeaway creating it 90-84, but the Nets couldn’t string alongside one another plenty of stops to get in excess of the hump.
A 3 by Marcus Good (20 details, 11 helps) still left the Nets down 101-91 with 6:54 remaining.
Brooklyn experienced a final gasp rally, an 8-1 run. Durant found Dragic for a 3 that pulled the Nets in 102-99 with 5:24 remaining.
Durant hit Irving for a 3 to make it 109-106, and sank a midrange floater moments later on to pull Brooklyn within just 109-108. But that’s as near as it bought.
Jaylen Brown (22 points) got free of charge for a layup with a moment remaining. And Durant went to the line down 111-108 with 22 seconds to enjoy but strike just a single of two.
Even right after forcing a Smart overlook, the Nets could not corral the rebound and permit Al Horford get a suggestion-in that iced it.
It was a unhappy conclude to a season that started out with the Nets’ first Huge 3 that integrated Harden, the superteam that hardly ever was.
“No regrets. S–t transpires. No crying more than spilled milk. It is about how we can progress and get improved,” Durant said. “No time to feel regret or be as well pissed off about it. Discover a answer to get far better, proactive as an group and get better. … We cannot have no regrets on what we did. S–t just played out the way it performed.”
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