Surprising 3rd in the East tied with the Pacers, the Nets (4 wins – 4 losses) are preparing a very complicated “back-to-back”: a trip to Boston (7v-2d) next night, then to Cleveland ( 9v-0d) the next day. Or the two best teams in the conference.
This match on the Celtics floor will have a special flavor for them. Last mid-February, when they still believed in the playoffs, the Brooklyn players played a “back-to-back” against the Celtics: a narrow defeat of 8 points at home, then a defeat… of 50 points the next day in Massachusetts.
It was the second worst defeat in franchise history which led to the firing of Jacque Vaughn a few days later. This painful memory, Dorian Finney-Smith took it upon himself to remind some of his teammates this week, mainly how much the Celtics had “ kicked ass “, as he told the New York Post.
“Sweeped” last year
“ But they upset a lot of people. A lot happened last year, but none of it matters “, notes the strong winger for whom it was ” probably the craziest match » in which he took part. Hence his desire to talk about it to others, who might not necessarily have experienced the thing.
As he puts it, the Nets today “have a whole new team, a whole new system », without forgetting a new coach, and the season has only just started.
“ It's still early. We can't really trust that now. We'll see in January. You can ask me the question then “, retorts Dorian Finney-Smith when asked about the respect that the Nets, winners of the Bucks and the Grizzlies twice, would already be gaining in the league.
“ We play one match at a time. We don't need to think about 'back-to-back' as such. We have to think about Boston. And since they won the title last year, we should be pretty excited to play against this team », Remarks Jordi Fernandez, who eventually plans to combine Nic Claxton with Ben Simmons in his five.
Dorian Finney-Smith, whose team was swept by the Celtics last year in the regular season, expects “ a good match, a great challenge » for his Nets.
