Celtics Have a Secret Defense to Throw at the Nets

BOSTON — Ime Udoka, Marcus Smart and Al Horford discussed the final preparations for Celtics vs Nets as Boston focuses on keeping things simple and maintaining clear minds before Game 1 tomorrow. Jaylen Brown talked about having difficulty sleeping in anticipation, while Smart and Horford added that the week off has started to feel long. They’ll rely on the defense they played all year, with Daniel Theis filling an off-ball role like Robert Williams played, but Udoka knows he’ll need to make adjustments against Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant when they start going off. The hard part, he said, will be not overreacting to those runs when the Celtics are winning in spite of them.

If their scoring does become a swing factor for Brooklyn, Udoka said the Celtics have a defense they didn’t play often during the year they can throw at the Nets. Bobby Manning reported live from the final practice in Boston before the series begins at 3:30 EST on Sunday.