 104 93 the Nets win game one over the Boston Celtics right now. We want to head back down to Barclay Center Welcome in our Michael Grady and Sarah Kustak who are standing by for playoff basketball with lots of fans in the arena and guys I have to ask you this first It was just a matter of time before the big three was gonna get it cooking and it was that third quarter when they got it going That's right, Chris, and we were talking about a cruise We were talking about it at halftime the Nets were really struggling a number of different areas couldn't get shots to fall lapses on the defensive end and despite those struggles They were only down six at the break and that's why you got to feel good because I'm not sure we're gonna see the Nets shoot this way not only from the field but in particular from the three-point line there in the first half And I think it's so important to recognize this was the Nets 39th different starting lineup This is the first time that these five guys started the game together And I think you felt that throughout the course especially They're in the first half just trying to figure things out and also how Boston was playing them on the defensive side of the ball The one thing that you know is that when a team is switching so often You start hunting for the mismatch and you start looking at different circumstances of how you're matching up against a personal And what does that do it sometimes forces you into isolation and we know what excellent isolation players Kyrie, Kevin, James can be but because of it I think it was finding the dynamic and the balance of continuing to move the basketball Get it going in transition They didn't have a lot of opportunities where they Were able to get the ball up the floor with the quickness in how they flourish And I think in the second half we saw a lot of those things come back and apply You know Jason Tatum he had 50 points in his last game against Washington Tonight he goes 30 minutes without a field goal the last 30 minutes of the game What did you guys see that the Nets were doing to really make things difficult for Boston's best player? Well, the one thing that the Nets can do is throw multiple bodies at you and do what they can to try to slow down You know Tatum Kimba's capable. He's had an up and down season for sure But going in you know that if you can make life difficult for Tatum with what the Nets can do Offensively it's going to be very difficult for the Celtics in this series I know the Nets are bigger than the big three. I understand that for sure But this kind of highlights what an advantage they are when they were struggling in that first half The Celtics as a team had 53 points at the break the big three for the Nets had 33 And the second half the big three for the Nets outscored the entire Celtics team 49 to 40 Wow So that's just highly if other guys step in and make plays whatever maybe Joe Harris Landry Jeff makes a big difference in terms of the separation on the scoreboard But defensively Tatum is the guy that they have to zone in on for sure and they did so in game one without a doubt And so often it's all about giving players different looks and that's exactly what they did with other players I do think it's important to note and it's not just one individual But kevin durant played in one of the meetings against boston that first game on december 25th And jason tatum had 20 points Durant and play in the next two games and what a tatum put up 31 put up 38 It circles back to it is not just one individual But kevin durant his presence his ability to match up so often on uh, jason tatum I thought that was one factor and secondly the nisted a Very good job in their switching scheme and it's not just so much about How they're switching and the communication but sending a second player and we saw that so often I thought kairi erving was excellent at this you see a lot of communication james harden does as well But it is that second player that was coming through on the weak side help often that just showed another body to tatum They were being more physical. They made a tough honest catches didn't give him a lot of airspace And so for all of those reasons I think that was part of it But you have to anticipate that this boston team is going to come ready with a lot of adjustments In game two and and jason tatum We're going to continue to see go to work and find different ways in which he can try and manipulate this defense And one of the things I was really curious about coose was you know a week off is a luxury because you can get healthy But how Rusty could you be could you be could your rhythm be off somewhat as you try to find your flow? Certainly there could be jitters in terms of first playoff game and oh my goodness a packed house And we have to say again the energy in this building was unbelievable So they have to navigate that get that rhythm They've only played seven and a half games together when you're talking about the big three So it just took some time to field things out and find that group Yeah, and I think it's so important frank brought up a excellent point at the beginning of the show Of what she was saying boston was playing with house money and that's how it looked That's how it felt especially there in the first quarter with this crowd with the level of anticipation Not only for the postseason and the playoffs to begin but to finally see this big three together to think about the fact I know this has been discussed a lot But kevin doran essentially had not played a playoff game in nearly two years And he only played in 35 games this season with a lot of that broken up So I think on a variety of levels you saw this net steam that had a lot of pressure on I mean and steven ash even said in his postgame press conference There you could tell there was a little bit of nerves and I think a lot of that then started To smooth out they regained their poise they started dropping in some shots And so you hope that momentum will build but barkleys was rocking this place was lit the fans were excellent I mean, I felt like we were in a time warp actually going back to What felt like some semblance of normalcy So it was really special to be able to be here and to feel that type of energy Yeah, just one more for me guys and that's steven ash and kevin doran both brought up defense But it was one thing that kevin doran said in his postgame sound that really caught my attention that was The offense got out to that slow start but in the third quarter it was the defense that got the offense going Yeah, that's a great that's a great point chris and I don't be something to keep an eye on Throughout this playoff journey for the brooklyn nets I think it's somewhat in cruise you can speak to this somewhat human nature That if you're missing shots it may affect your intensity and your focus on the defense side of the ball And then when you see the ball go through the hoop all of a sudden you're in the defense Substantia hustling you clapping hands together You're a little bit more engaged and oh if you're a championship caliber squad It has to work the other way around and your defense Fueling what you do on the offensive side of the ball And so being able to take advantage of celtic's turnovers the points off of those turnovers are really big Especially as we what we saw in that second half you nailed it So often throughout the course of this year when we look at the nets and times that they have struggled It's been about the possession game and how many more shots did the opponent take and it was even here tonight And you look at those points off turnovers in many cases It's flip-flop where that could be an area that teams take advantage of second chance points and in all of those areas a lot of it was the domination of the nets and Those are the things that I think that continue to be Points of emphasis and attention to detail and the defensive side of the ball We have seen this team defend in stretches throughout the course of the year Now they understand the urgency because as kairi urban often talked about it's about the main stage And they're here on the main stage and they know how important it is