Boston Celtics

Tristan Thompson was not thrilled when a reporter asked about the Nets’ ‘swagger’

"I mean, listen, if you have a team with Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving, you better step on the court feeling good about yourself."

Tristan Thompson

By Tom Westerholm

2 minutes to read

The Celtics gave themselves a chance against the Nets in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series before cold shooting in the second half ultimately doomed them to a 104-93 loss.

On Monday, a reporter noted to Tristan Thompson that the Nets seemed to have some swagger in the second half after rallying from a six-point halftime deficit to take a double-digit lead.

Thompson didn’t seem to agree.

“A swagger?” Thompson said, sounding incredulous. “I mean, listen, if you have a team with Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving, you better step on the court feeling good about yourself.

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“But we don’t give a s— about that. At the end of the day, they put their socks on and their shoes on, just like us. So we’re not intimidated or anything like that. That swagger thing, I don’t even know how to answer that, but okay.”

Despite their offensive struggles (2-for-12 from 3-point range in the second half, 11-for-36 from the field for Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker), the Celtics looked like a more coherent team on both ends for stretches, and particularly on the defensive end.

Brad Stevens noted that the defense was an encouraging sign given the Celtics’s occasionally lackluster approach throughout the year.

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“I feel really good about how we needed to play, and I thought we did that, especially on the defensive end,” Stevens said. “We weren’t as good offensively, and I think we knew what we needed to do but we have had two more days to really hone in on that. But the other team is doing that too, and any time you’re in a playoff series, I think it’s important that you anticipate what they might do different and what they’re thinking about.

“Obviously, I thought we played good defense. But I think we have to score more than 110 to beat these guys on a normal night.”

A major factor in the Celtics’s defensive performance was Robert Williams, who swatted away nine shots including five in the fourth quarter. Durant is normally nearly impossible to guard with his height and length, but he seemed to feel Williams’s contests. Even Harden couldn’t shake Williams with his patented step-back jumper from 3-point range — Williams stayed with Harden for an entire isolated possession in the second half and blocked Harden’s shot as it left his hand.

“We got to be careful on our decision making when we’re around [Williams],” Nets coach Steve Nash noted to reporters on Monday.

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But the Celtics need more than just good defense. Slowing Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden gives them a chance to win, but the Celtics will need to score more — a lot more — to have a chance in what could be a pivotal Game 2.

“That’s the part of playing through a playoff series,” Evan Fournier told reporters on Monday. “You learn from your mistakes, you try to do better things on defense and take the next game and make some adjustments and see where it goes.

“I can’t say it was a good experience or a bad experience. It went the way it went, and we will do better from it.”

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