Celtics-Nets matchups

Though they may not start out matched up this way, the first great duel of the NBA postseason kicks off on Sunday in the Garden.

Jayson Tatum and Kevin Durant — the young star and his idol since adolescence — are about to drive each other to an optimum level. The NBA ratings machine is already thankful.

But as much as Tatum relishes the idea, he’s not looking at this in headto-head terms.

“I guess not trying to make it a 1-on-1 thing,” he said. “Obviously, everybody knows who Kevin is and the things he’s accomplished and what he brings to this game but it’s a team sport. Obviously, he’s the focal point of their team and you got to compete and gameplan and things like that to make it tough for him. That’s a tough task, but looking forward to it. It’s going to be fun. I think playoffs is that time of the season, myself and the rest of the guys, are just excited. We had a really good season and just trying to carry the momentum into the postseason.”

But from putting Marcus Smart on Kyrie Irving — instant catnip for the Garden crowd — to figuring out how to guard the paint and beyond against what remains the greatest isolation team in the NBA, the Celtics get one of their greatest challenges immediately.

The Nets aren’t as deep as the team that eliminated the Celtics in five games in last year’s first round — the injured Joe Harris, an elite shooter, would have made them near-unguardable — but they come out of an easy win over Cleveland as the ultimate play-in nightmare.

Not that the Celtics seem to mind.