Ugly Game 1 victory over Celtics exposes concerns for ballyhooed Brooklyn Nets

By Charlotte Wilder
FOX Sports Columnist

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The most impressive performance at Barclays Center on Saturday night came from a group of people who moved as one organism and executed intricate choreography with finesse and grace. 

These athletes lit up Game 1 of the first-round playoff series between the Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics, providing a crowd of basketball-hungry, pandemic-weary fans with a show that ticket-holders have been anticipating for two years.

I’m talking, of course, about the Brooklynettes and Team Hype. The dancers who popped up on the jumbotron during TV commercial breaks did what neither the Nets nor the Celtics were able to pull off Saturday: operate cohesively as a team.

"But, Charlotte," you might be thinking, "how can you say this with confidence when the Nets beat the Celtics 104-93?"

Well, dear reader, I stand by this bold assertion because the electric Nets team that America thought it was getting showed up for only part of the fourth quarter. 

It didn’t blow Boston out of the water.

The Celtics led through the first half and partway into the second, even though Boston is missing All-Star Jaylen Brown because of injury, and Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier apparently decided to miss many of the shots they took. Jayson Tatum was left to once again put the team on his tired back, even though he had tons of help from Robert "Time Lord" Williams III on the defensive end (Williams set a new Celtics’ playoff record with nine blocked shots).

Tatum can’t be expected to put up 50 points in every playoff game. That isn't a sustainable plan. But that seems to be what it takes for Boston to win without Brown, given that Tatum’s 22 points didn’t do it Saturday. The Nets eventually got the W, but trailing at all, let alone for so long and against a depleted Celtics team, was not what anyone expected.

"Expected" is the key word when it comes to Nets. I’ve often said that the savviest thing to do is set the bar on the ground. That way, others see "simply stepping over it" as an accomplishment, which is why I’m going to sell T-shirts that say "Under Promise and Over Deliver" outside Madison Square Garden before the Knicks’ first playoff game Sunday.

One team in New York City has the right idea.

But Brooklyn’s first problem is also its solution, which is that the Nets’ starting lineup is composed of Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Blake Griffin and Joe Harris. When you have three of the best players in the NBA, anything less than a championship — or at the very least, a Finals appearance — is going to be a disappointment.

Brooklyn’s second problem is one of perception. The expectations are so high in part because winning the Finals is the only way to shut up those who don’t love Irving, Durant and Harden. Most of the country falls into this category — the three are polarizing figures in the NBA. Each has made exits from former teams that turned entire fan bases against them, and Irving and Durant make too many puzzling headlines off the court for what they say and do (or Tweet, in Durant’s case) to earn nationwide goodwill.

They’re the kind of guys who are lovable only to fans of the team for which they play.

Which brings me to Brooklyn’s third problem: The Nets don’t have many fans. If the ratio of Knicks to Nets shirts I’ve seen on the streets of Brooklyn in the past week — or the research I did for this story — is any indication, this city still bleeds blue and orange. Nine years of being a bad team in a new city doesn’t turn you into a fan favorite overnight. There were many Celtics jerseys at Barclays Center on Saturday — and more than a few Knicks ones. One Nets fan wore a Julius Erving ABA Nets jersey, grasping at the history of this young team’s former iterations and homes.

All of these conundrums might be why so many people have put money on the Nets to win it all. More bettors have picked Brooklyn to win the Larry O’Brien trophy than any other franchise. If you can’t make sports joy out of a superteam of villains, you might as well make money.

But there’s a fourth Nets problem, which could be an issue for those looking to make a profit off of the team: If Saturday is any indication, greatness isn’t a switch the Nets can just flip at the start of every playoff game.

Harden, KD and Irving played only eight games together before taking the court against Boston, spending just 5.8% of the Nets’ regular-season minutes on the floor with one another. The Nets managed to clinch the second seed in the East, even though all three of their biggest stars missed lots of games. A rotating lineup of role players had a huge hand in keeping the high expectations afloat, but those players are all being pushed aside now that the marquee names are healthy.

Chemistry isn’t immediate. Yes, Kyrie broke a few ankles with his signature drives to the basket, Harden actually played defense, and Durant hit most of his free throws, putting up 32 points, despite going 1-for-8 in 3-point attempts.

But they didn’t display the beauty of a team in sync. The beauty expected of them.

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The Celtics might be able to put up a real fight. Although I believed that Boston was walking into a buzzsaw, Brooklyn wasn’t plugged in. If the rest of the Celtics step up around Tatum, they could make this a series in a much more real way than I thought. Maybe Time Lord just needs to keep up the savage blocks and Walker just needs to make a 3 before the fourth quarter.

But I have a strong hunch that the Nets don’t want a repeat of Saturday's performance.

Maybe Brooklyn needed three bad quarters to dust off the cobwebs and scrub off the rust before it could work like a well-oiled machine. If I were a betting woman, I’d follow America’s lead. Despite all of the questionable attributes I just listed, the Nets still have the answer: so much electric talent that it would take a team-wide power outage to prevent a trip to the Finals.

It might not be pretty, but ugly can still result in grinding out wins when you’re the Nets. If their stars stay healthy — and perhaps even if one doesn’t — Brooklyn could very well win a hideous championship.

If they find some polish, it might even be beautiful.

Charlotte Wilder is a general columnist and co-host of "The People's Sports Podcast" for FOX Sports. She's honored to represent the constantly neglected Boston area in sports media, loves talking to sports fans about their feelings and is happiest eating a hotdog in a ballpark or nachos in a stadium. Follow her on Twitter @TheWilderThings.