Catch this game live on Thursday, April 21, at 7:00 AM, Manila time.

Away: Brooklyn Nets (0-1/0-1 Away)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: Kyrie Irving
  • SG: Seth Curry
  • SF: Bruce Brown
  • PF: Kevin Durant
  • C: Andre Drummond

Game 1’s loss to the Celtics definitely hurts for Brooklyn, but the Nets should have a short memory and move on. Kyrie Irving will look to build on his 39-point performance in the series opener, while also hoping to have a much better start. In Game 1, Irving took some time to heat up before finishing 12/20 from thefield, including a 6/10 line from deep. 

Kevin Durant scored 23 points but was 9/24 from the field. Boston’s defense bothered the Nets in Game 1, but Brooklyn still managed to connect on 53.8% of their shots and hit 11 of 24 attempts from behind the arc.It came down to ball possessions, with the Celtics coming away with a huge +14 advantage in the rebounding battle and +9 in offensive boards. 

In other words, Andre Drummond and Nic Claxton will have to work harder to keep Boston’s bigs from keeping possessions alive. The Nets enter Game 2 with a  4-1 record against the spread in their last 5 games as an underdog.

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Home: Boston Celtics (1-0/1-0 Home)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: Marcus Smart
  • SG: Jaylen Brown
  • SF: Jayson Tatum
  • PF: Al Horford
  • C: Daniel Theis

Al Horford still matters. The veteran big man came up huge for the Celtics in Game 1, helping mitigate the absence of Robert Williams III with a memorable performance. 

Horford finished with a double-double of 20 points and 15 rebounds (6 offensive), while Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown had 31 and 23 points, respectively. Boston’s win will be remembered more for Tatum’s shot, but it was just the culmination of a total team effort for the Celtics, who outscored Brooklyn in the paint (56-32) and played tremendous defense down the stretch. 

2022 Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart is coming back to make life hard for the Nets. Irving shot well in Game 1, but Smart and Boston’s switch-heavy defensive schemes will continue to be a big threat for the Nets. Smart is also coming off a good offensive outing, scoring 20 points  to along with 6 assists and 3 steals for the Celtics, who have covered the spread in all of their last five games following two days of rest.

PREDICTIONS:

Spread: The Nets cover (+4).

Over/Under: Game 2 will be played on a tighter pace. Taking the Under (226.5)

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