NBA: Boston Celtics clear Playoff with clean sweep against Brooklyn Nets

Boston Celtics beat Playoff rivals Brooklyn Nets to clean sweep the series, taking the first spot in the second round. The 4-0 series win was registered after the Celtics- Nets game ended with a tally of 116-112 on Monday night.

Even though Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant dominated the court, his solo performance could not guide the team to a win. He scored 39 points on Monday, in addition to nine assists and seven rebounds.

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For the winning team, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown seemed to take charge. The two players scored 51 points in total, out of which 29 were of Tatum and the remaining 22 of Brown.

What was originally thought to be one of the most competitive series in the ongoing Playoffs had an anti-climatic ending. The dominant force of the Celtics will now await the winner of the series between Milwaukee and Chicago. Milwaukee Bucks currently lead their Playoff series 3-1.

Seth Curry scored 23 points for the Nets. Kyrie Irving, whose unavailability for home games much of the season contributed to the Nets performing so far below expectations, had 20 points.

The Celtics were under .500 at the midpoint of their season but went 31-10 from there, with Tatum emerging as the scoring star on one of the NBA’s best defensive teams.

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That defense limited Durant to just 19-for-52 shooting with 17 turnovers through the first three games and made it tough for him, even as he finally got more shots to drop Monday. He was only 13 of 31 from the field, 3 for 11 behind the arc.

Boston Celtics swept its first-round series for the third time in four years. The Celtics beat Indiana in four games in 2019 and Philadelphia in 2020 at Walt Disney World. They lost 4-1 in the first round to the Nets last season