Kevin Durant knows who he is ...

He is Kevin Durant. But on Sunday, he was a lesser version of KD and he knows it.

The Nets superstar scored 23 points on 9-of-24 shooting, including 1-of-5 from deep. He also turned the ball over six times as the Celtics keyed on him all game. Kyrie Irving took up the slack, of course, and scored 39 points but the Nets lost Game 1 on a buzzer beater.

“We have another opportunity to come here and get a ‘W’ on their home floor,” Durant said. “We’ve got to try to move past this; look at film but move past it and get ready for Game 2.”

Sounds like he understands what he needs to do if the Nets are going to right their ship. Moreover, he doesn’t believe the Celtics have come up with some magical scheme to lessen his powers.

“They did a good job forcing me away, helping in the paint. I just have to be more fundamental in my moves,” Durant said. “Some shots went in and out for me. I played fast and turned the ball over. I’ve just got to slow down and play my game. But they did a good job of making me see bodies.”

Ime Udoka, who was the defensive assistant last season in Brooklyn had his players body up Durant.

“They did a good job forcing me away, helping in the paint. I just have to be more fundamental in my moves,” Durant said. “Some shots went in and out for me. I played fast and turned the ball over. I’ve just got to slow down and play my game. But they did a good job of making me see bodies.”

It’s also nothing new.

“Teams are going to be designed to take away some of my catches and my opportunities,” Durant said. “I’ve been dealing with it for a while, so it’s on me to keep playing through it. I got some good looks there in the first, second half, they didn’t fall, maybe rushing a little bit. My fundamentals weren’t down, trying to beat [the double team], trying to play before the help comes.

“Sometimes I rushed my shots. By looking at the game and seeing where I can be better individually and shifting my mindset, see where I go from there. It’s a journey, looking forward to the next game.”

Irving says the Nets and their fans should not be overly concerned and certainly not in any panic mode about one game.

“Nothing to overthink with Kevin Durant,” Irving said. “We know who he is. We know he’s going to go back and watch film, prepare. It may have looked like a bad shooting night, but I know his second half looked a lot better than his first shooting-wise. But he was doing all the little things and we know how high his expectations are for himself.

“So we’re not going to overthink it. But we definitely got to look ourselves in the mirror as a team and see where we can control the little things, the little details that help us be able to close out the game.”

Steve Nash has the same mindset. Kevin Durant knows who is.

“They were really physical, putting their hands on him a lot. They definitely crowded his space. The physicality, they were able to really junk him and get two hands on him more than the game warrants,” Nash said. “Kevin’s Kevin Durant for a reason. He figures things out on his own very, very well.”

History would tell you that. Even Marcus Smart, named Defensive Player of the Year, knows that. He, along with

“The dude is 7-foot with a shot like that. It’s hard to really stop him,” Marcus Smart said. “But you just have to make it as hard and tough the whole game as you can and just give him different looks, and that’s what we did.”

Jayson Tatum, Grant Williams and Al Horford all took turns trying to stop Durant and as Irving said, he made adjustments in the second half, shot better, held on to the ball better. Still, Tatum thinks the Celtics can slow Durant down.

“Follow the game plan and don’t leave somebody on an island,” Tatum said. “Obviously, you’ve got to take pride in guarding one-on-one, but listen to the guys behind you. Everybody is helping. It’s not just one guy contesting. It’s probably going to be two guys. Try not to give him any clean, easy looks. That’s all you can ask for.”

• Nets’ Kevin Durant vows adjustments after rare off game: ‘Slow down’ - Brian Lewis - New York Post
• No overthinking needed for Kevin Durant after Game 1 struggles - Steve Popper - Newsday
• After Game 1 loss, four ways Nets can adjust to Celtics’ punishing defense and rebounding - Kristian Winfield - New York Daily News
• In Nets-Celtics rematch, Boston’s team identity shows why it’s more than just a star battle - Jared Weiss - The Athletic
• Nets’ Game 2 against Celtics could be their biggest game since moving to Brooklyn - Ian Begley - SNY
• How KD can be more effective for the Nets in Game 2 (Video) - ESPN