After securing their playoff berth, are the Nets the most dangerous team in the East?

The Brooklyn Nets seemed headed down the same route as the Los Angeles Lakers, who were initially favorites in the Western Conference. NBA, but ended up collapsing to be surprisingly out of the playoffs.

In Brooklyn, things were not going well. the stellar outfitter Kyrie Irving he could not play local games because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19; The star Kevin Durant he missed a month and a half of action with a knee injury and starting shooting guard James Harden was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers after requesting a trade.

This led the quintet to fall to tenth place in the Eastern Conference, pigeonholed that allowed them to aspire to the postseason in the “play-in” mini-tournament, one week after the end of the regular season.

Near the abyss, the Nets pressed and won their last five games to climb to eighth place, having to play – anyway – in the minitournament, but with the opportunity to advance to the postseason with a victory in the first game. And the good moment of the team continued.

And on Tuesday, the Nets ousted the Cleveland Cavaliers from seventh place with a 115-108 win and clinched their place in the first round of the postseason against the Boston Celtics, the No. 2 team in the East.

Irving, now cleared to play at Barclays Center, had 34 points with 12 assists and a healthy Durant had 25 points with 11 assists.

Finished the tournament with a 44-38 record, nine games out of first place -secured by the Miami Heat- in the East, are the Nets dangerous heading to the playoffs?

“Definitely. Boston was played by a dangerous team, that the record means nothing. I wouldn’t want to see myself in the playoffs with Brooklyn”, answered Tony Ruiz, leader and television commentator of the National Superior Basketball (BSN).

“That duo of Kyrie and Durant looks too unbearable. They are playing at their best. I’m not surprised at all by the win against Cleveland. Watching them now in a first-round series against Boston is like a conference final. Boston was able to avoid it, but prefers to have it in front of him, ”he added.

Like the Nets, the Celtics came from less to more in the regular season. The difference is that they woke up last January, when they played 18-20 in the first days of the year. At one point, they won 17 of their last 20 matches, going on a 10-match winning streak, the longest of the quintet in the tournament.

In their last game against the Nets, Boston won 126-120 with 54 points from Jayson Tatum. Brooklyn had Durant and Irving on the court for the duel. The Celtics won the particular series 2-1.

“(The Celtics) They’ve played really well all season. For me, the best team in the NBA since mid-January. Brooklyn is at its best. It will be a balanced series. But, if the Brooklyn duo keeps playing like this and the group of Andre Drummond, Seth Curry and Bruce Brown does their job, they’re going to be very uncomfortable and they’ll give Boston a job. The Brooklyn thing is real,” Ruiz analyzed.

Drummond and Curry arrived in Brooklyn alongside forward Ben Simmons in the Harden trade. With the Nets, center Drummond is averaging 11.8 points with 10.3 rebounds. Curry, for his part, has an average of 14.9 points. Simmons has been unable to make his Brooklyn debut due to back ailments and remains out indefinitely.

“Everybody knows what Kyrie and Durant are going to do. The effect will be on what the Browns, the Currys, the Drummonds do. If those guys, who are the reserves, do their job, then you have to count on the Nets,” Ruiz said.

The series between the Celtics and the Nets begins Sunday in Boston.

–