The Nets star admitted that he felt as hesitant and confused as he looked, and that he was thinking too much. The flow had deserted his game. And from a Celtics perspective, things are working exactly as planned – better, probably, than they could have hoped for on the way to a 3-0 edge in this first round playoff series.
NEW YORK — Kevin Durant focused on being a playmaker Saturday night, trying to get his teammates more involved as the Celtics continued to successfully challenge his scoring opportunities. On the way to scoring 16 points, he finished with only three more shot attempts (11) than assists (eight), attempted only three 3-pointers, making two, and turned the ball over five times, increasing his three-game total to 17. The Nets star admitted that he felt as hesitant and confused as he looked, and that he was thinking too much. The flow had deserted his game. And from a Celtics perspective, things are working exactly as planned — better, probably, than they could have hoped for on the way to a 3-0 edge in this first-round playoff series. “I would like to think that what we’re doing is getting in his head and causing him to do the second-guessing,” Marcus Smart said following a meeting at the team hotel on Sunday. “You play against one of the greatest players in this world to do this, you can’t let him be comfortable,” he said. “You have to have him second-guessing. It’s a game of rhythm, runs, and we all know he can get into one of the greatest rhythms and runs all by himself, along with Kyrie ( Irving). I would like to think we have something to do with that. I don’t know how much of that we do have to take credit for. But we just have to continue to make it tough or him.
