Boston Celtics: Kyrie/KD use Cs to assert Nets as contenders

The Brooklyn Nets made a statement to the entire NBA at the expense of the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day that they are title contenders.

Opening night was a statement victory for the Brooklyn Nets more than it was a dreadful loss for the Boston Celtics.

Okay, fine, 28-point losses are never great. But overreactions to this loss are not what the Houdini is about today.

Instead, the coronation of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant’s Nets as the team to beat in the Eastern Conference is what I’m focused on. The duo combined for 66 points, with Irving’s 37/8/6 sticking out as one of the all-time statement lines in a Christmas Day game.

What was clear on Friday evening was how deep Brooklyn is, and how the Cs may still be lacking pieces to contend. Now, the natural thought might be that Kemba Walker’s absence may have been the problem. Being without a 20+ point per game will always put you at more of a disadvantage.

Then again, if Irving was able to drop 37 points on Marcus Smart, Jeff Teague, and Payton Pritchard, it’s not as though Kemba Walker would have fared much better. In fact, Walker is a worse defender than the three aforementioned players, so let’s hope the Cs can avoid Brooklyn as long as possible in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Reading between the lines there, I revealed what the headline of this article about: the Nets are contenders in the east and the Boston Celtics were their springboard to greatness.

Heading into this one, the thinking was that Brad Stevens’ squad can cause a rift in the Brooklyn locker-room with an upset. Hell, Boston was not much of an underdog, closing at a +2 underdog by the Las Vegas sportsbook.

Clearly, there is a discrepancy between these two teams, but it’s no reason to overreact…yet. If Boston runs through the postseason gauntlet and they end up needing to get through Durant and Irving as the final boss…then I’d start spinning all of the fidget spinners in the world to deal with playing this Nets team in the postseason.