On February 25, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued to play, the first game after the All-Star game, the Nets against the powerful Celtics, this battle, Durant continued to be absent due to injury, because it was the home Irving did not play, Simmons is still adjusting the physical state, for this reason, the Nets three giants are all absent. In addition, new signing Dragic did not play.
And the game lost suspense early in the first half, the Nets fell behind at the beginning, once trailing by as many as 29 points, Cescuri scored 22 points to no avail, and in the end, the Green Army gave the Nets a 23-point fiasco with a 7-man double-figure posture, the score was 129-106, and the Nets suffered the 13th defeat in the last 15 games.
It is worth mentioning that near the end of the game, Durant and Simmons who watched from the sidelines were very sluggish, of which Durant also directly withdrew early, did not shake hands with the opponent players, and was obviously in a bad mood. After Durant was injured, the Nets quickly retreated from the championship team to the weak team in the East, which Durant did not expect. On the other hand, Simmons, before playing for the Nets, witnessed such a fiasco for the team, I don't know how to feel, but at the same time, what needs to be seen is that what the Nets lack most today is defensive strength, if Simmons can maintain the defense of the past few seasons close to the best defensive player level, I believe that the Nets can quickly turn over.
After this game, the Nets' record continued to decline, although the ranking remained 8th in the East, but the 10th win difference in the East, the remaining 2, that is, the Nets may fall to the 10th place in the East in a short period of time, as a team that was widely optimistic about winning the championship before the start of the season, it is really unexpected that it is now in such a field.
In addition, the Nets' opponent in this game, the Celtics, is a strong contender for the Eastern Conference championship this season, and the big victory of the Green Army in this game will directly enhance their confidence in defeating the Nets, and the leader Tatum directly staged a wonderful shot of Drummond in the course of the game, and scored 30 points. A crushing defeat against a direct rival to the Eastern Conference champions is bad news.
Internal and external troubles, this is the real problem of the Nets at present, Nash overuses Durant's injury, trade harden in exchange for Simmons can not be used immediately, Irving still insists on his idea of not vaccinated for the time being or part-time identity, shooter Joe Harris is close to season reimbursement, no one expected that the Nets of this luxurious lineup will come to this step. In the rest of the season, the Nets must do jedi counterattack, this season's Eastern Conference, strong hands, even if the big three officially return to the united, in the face of such as the Bucks, Heat and Philadelphia, Bulls and other strong eastern teams, not necessarily can occupy an absolute advantage, once unable to complete the set goal of reaching the Finals, wait until the offseason, Irving contract expires, where to go is unknown, then the Nets will be more troublesome, Durant's goal of the 3rd crown is difficult to achieve.
(Lin Xiaoxiang)