Brooklyn Nets get close, but not past Boston Celtics, losing 113-99

The Boston Celtics finally stepped down to the Brooklyn Nets’ level. Well, almost.

Four seasons (or forever) ago, these two teams faced off in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs for back-to-back years. The first series was way more fun than the other, and that’s my totally unbiased opinion.

But after that, Brooklyn got bad, and Boston stayed good. The two teams also made their diverging directions quite clear, with the Nets’ last win vs the Beantown boys coming in 2023. That’s nine straight losses against their short-lived rival.

But tonight, with the Celtics coming in with a 7-7 seven record, hanging just two spots above the Nets in the basement of the East’s standings, it’s the closest they’ve been to each other in some time. Boston’s still in a better spot, with far more rostered talent and a recent Larry O’Brien to keep them warm in said basement, but they’re no longer a speck of green, barely visible off in the distance.

Be that as it may, it felt like Boston had no clue who the Nets were when the game opened up. The Celtics seemed unaware of Egor Dëmin’s difficulties getting to the rim, as well as Noah Clowney’s crisp shooting of late. On the first swing sequence of the game, the former found the latter for an open three after drawing attention on the drive to free up the shot up. Then on the next possession, Boston flat out let Clowney shoot it again.

Again, Clowney made them pay.

Brooklyn made scoring in transition an early habit, beating the Celtics in break points 13-0 during the quarter. That, plus Dëmin mixing in two of his own threes, put the Nets up 21-11 roughly halfway through the first. In doing so, Brooklyn threw cold water on Jaylen Brown, who looked off a masterful start after coming out of the gates firing from the midrange. He still ended up going off 29 points on 9-of-19 shooting, however.

But as one Boston guard momentarily chilled, the other heated up. Payton Pritchard dropped 11 points in the first to lead both teams early. Leveraging the defense, now queued in on shooting touch, Pritchard also assisted on a Neemias Queta bucket that tied the game 29-29 at the end of the frame.

Drake Powell kept the transition game going in the second, finding Ziaire Williams in transition with a slick feed on one play and then going coast-to-coast for one of his own the next…

Powell only finished with three points tonight, but the Nets dictated the game’s pace until halftime, hearing no pleas from the Boston parliament. By the break, they had inflated the fast break scoring disparity to a 22-0 advantage, many started by their season high 12 steals on the evening.

“Our deflections have been up, and you can be a little bit more aggressive with your coverages when your ball pressure and your deflections are up, because if you don’t have those two things first, it’s hard to go and put two on the ball, because now that is too soft of a double team,” Fernández said. “So, trying to find that rhythm. The guys are playing hard, we created enough turnovers and then we got points out of it.”

That they did. The last time Brooklyn had 22 fast break points in a half was on 10/30/23 at Charlotte. For reference, Mikal Bridges, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Royce O’Neale played in that game. It was also their sixth most points in a half since they began tracking the stat in 1997-98.

However, Brooklyn had no such control at the other end, as the Celtics shot 12-of-17 from the field and 7-of-10 from three in the period. Our next Boston guard, Anfernee Simons, had taken over by that point, dropping eight points in the second. Pritchard continued to hit from “will he, won’t he” range, and that was enough to give Boston a one-point halftime lead, even with Dëmin adding two more triples in the frame…

After a high scoring first half, neither the Celtics nor the Nets brought their offense with them when they came back out of the tunnel. The two teams collectively began the third quarter shooting 2-of-12 from the field with three turnovers.

Boston, however, momentarily found theirs, pulling to 5-of-9 shooting in the quarter roughly halfway through it and jumping up by 11 — their largest lead of the game at the time. Meanwhile, Brooklyn’s continued to evade them. They were unable to hit the same buttons they did in the first half, mustering just two fast break points in the period. Until Ziaire Williams hit a triple at the top of the key that made it an 80-72 game, Brooklyn had shot 2-16 from the field and 0-6 from three in the third.

“We fouled a lot,” Fernández said. “So, it’s harder to run when you are allowing free throws…We allowed nine second chance points, so if you don’t rebound, you can’t run…all of those things affected our ability to run.”

In the last two years of Celtics vs Nets bouts, that probably would’ve been it. But again, Boston and Brooklyn? We’re not so different anymore, at least this year.

Helped by Williams, Brooklyn’s bench outscored Boston 16-7 in the third. Day’Ron Sharpe tightened up the interior defense at one end. He also added at least a half dozen at the other, shooting 3-of-3 from the field in the quarter, and probably more, mixing in a variety of screens to get the offense flowing. The Nets went into the fourth down just four, setting the stage for a fun finish…

A Porter Jr. triple to open up the final quarter quickly made it a one-point game. It was good to hear from MPJ, who scored 18 in the first half and just four in the second before that make. The Nets briefly tied the game 90-90, only for Boston to go on a quick 7-0 burst, capped off by a deep Sam Hauser triple.

Down seven and with seven to go, the Nets opted to close with their usual starting five but with Williams in for Dëmin. However, postgame, Fernández wouldn’t admit it had anything to do with the rookie struggling.

“Yeah, I see a different game than you guys. I don’t see a struggle out there. I just see, like, you know, everybody turns it over, everybody misses shots. He’s not the only one,” Fernández said. “I make mistakes too when I sub guys at times, so I live with my mistakes. I live with them, and I’m very happy with how they played, how they competed…Very, very happy and proud of the rookies and everybody else.”

Despite it being an anti-rebuild move to swap Ziaire for Egor, what happened next favored the tank.

Helped by a sequence where the Nets gave up three offensive rebounds in one possession, Boston went on an 14-5 run. That was enough to ice things, as was the closest thing we’ve seen to a change of heart from Fernández in terms of a pro-tanking agenda, as he put in Nolan Traoré and Danny Wolf with the Nets only down 12 and still with about two to play.

“Winning starts now,” Fernández said, post-game. “I think playing this competitive round of basketball against a very good team, it’s important. A lot of you guys will not see the wins on the standings, and we have high standards, obviously, we want to win. We play to win, we competed to win. But also, the wins are the future Nets that will play in a few years in a winning team are getting their minutes and getting better. So, we figured out how to make our players better and see how they grow. Obviously, minutes are very important, but accountability is very important too.”

Still, Brooklyn’s slow march toward the loss was a tough watch. Nic Claxton couldn’t finish off a potential and-one at the cylinder with the team down seven, and missed one of the free throws. On the next play, Derrick White dribbled the ball of his leg. Rather than getting more fast break points, Brooklyn committed an offensive foul and gave the ball back. Clowney also went 0-2 from the charity stripe a few moments later. They also missed seven straight field goal attempts after that Porter Jr. three.

MPJ once again led all Nets with 25 points after shooting 8-of-16 from the field and 4-8 from deep, coming up with three steals and six rebounds as well. Sharpe followed him with 16 points, seven rebounds, and two assists. Clowney added 13 points shooting 4-8 from the field and 3-4 from deep while Dëmin captured 12 points, four assists, three rebounds, and a steal.

Again, they were close, almost on the same level, and better than they were yesterday, but not quite there.

“I wasn’t happy with the way we were competing a few games ago, and now, for four straight games, we’ve played a respectable brand of basketball, a competitive brand of basketball, and if that’s the case, we will continue to do that, and we will live with the results,” Fernández said before leaving the podium. “So, we just want our fans, especially here at home, to be proud of what we do. I think nights like tonight, they should be proud of the young guys, or the whole group, the whole group is very young, so that’s how we move on to the next one.”

Final: Brooklyn Nets 99, Boston Celtics 113

Milestone Watch

The Nets have recorded a season-high 12 steals tonight against Boston, led by three apiece from Michael Porter Jr. and Day’Ron Sharpe.

Terance Mann had a season-high seven assists, tied as the fifth most in his career.

Michael Porter Jr. (22 points) has scored 20+ points in seven consecutive games, the longest streak of his career (previous high of six, twice in 2021 with Denver).

E. Demin (12 PTS, 4-4 3PT in the first half) is the first Nets rookie to make at least four 3FG without a miss in a half since R. Kurucs (5-5, 1/7/19 @ BOS).

Brooklyn’s 50.0% (10-20) 3PT in the first half was their highest 3PT% in a half this season. Their 10 3PM are tied for their 4th-most in a half (11, 3 times).

Next Up

Want more Nets vs Celtics action? You don’t? Well, either way, you’re getting it. Brooklyn will head up to the TD Garden to play Boston again on Friday night, this time in an NBA Cup contest. For anyone wondering, the Nets have two other occasions this season where they’ll play the same team in two straight games — one featuring the Chicago Bulls in January and another against the Miami Heat in early March.

Brooklyn Nets get close, but not past Boston Celtics, losing 113-99

Tags: