After a humbling defeat against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night, the Boston Celtics (10-3) rebounded against the Brooklyn Nets (5-7) with a 139-114 win. On Tuesday, the Celtics were dominated on the offensive glass 20-6. On Wednesday, the Nets only had three offensive boards which is always a recipe for success.
The stars showed out for Boston. Tatum finished with one rebounds shy of a triple double (36 points, 10 assists, 9 rebounds), while Brown had 24 points, 12 rebounds, and four assists.
The Celtics started missing their first five shots giving the Nets an early 7-2 lead with Jaylen Brown scoring the points from the free throw line.
Boston finally got their first basket of the game from a Brown corner three off of a Tatum assist.
Al Horford didn’t play since he doesn’t play back-to-backs which gave Neemias Queta the start. It wasn’t the best start for the Portugal native as he picked up two quick fouls and had to be subbed out in the first three games.
The Celtics after a 20 turnover game against Atlanta tried to beat that total with three turnovers. The Nets drew a charge and on the next possession, Dennis Schröder drilled a three to make it 14-5 with 8:20 left in the first quarter.
Everyone knows Boston wants to shoot threes and when they don’t fall, the offense can sometimes look bleak. The Celtics opened the game shooting 1-for-7 from behind the arc and trailed Brooklyn 19-8 before Joe Mazzulla called a timeout with 5:54 remaining.
Despite the timeout, the Nets continued to outhustle and outwork the Celtics. Pritchard drilled a three and was fouled to cut the lead to 10 (26-16) before the free throw.
It wasn’t just Queta who was in foul trouble as Derrick White was called for a questionable foul call which was his third of the game.
Tatum got hot late in the quarter scoring the team’s final three baskets to cut the lead to two points. Tatum finished the quarter with 13 points and helped Boston to get into striking distance trailing Brooklyn by two 32-34.
Ziaire Williams led the Nets with 11 first-quarter points.
Boston finished the quarter shooting 50% from the field and 38.5% from deep while the Nets 56.5% and 50% respectively.
Hauser gave Boston the lead with a corner three (37-36) two minutes into the second quarter. Hauser came out of the gates on fire hitting three threes.
Queta picked up his third foul with 8:59 to go in the quarters the big man tried to force a jump ball, but instead he picked up the foul. Jaylen Brown was shortly hit with a technical foul which Brooklyn converted to go back up by two points.
Every time Boston looked like they got control of the game, the Nets would go on a roll of their own. Joe Mazzulla took another timeout with 7:43 remaining after Cam Thomas drilled back-to-back threes to make it 45-39.
After the timeout, Jaylen Brown came out super aggressive attacking the rim. He drew an and-1 and on the next drive he missed the layup but Kornet kept the ball alive to Jrue Holiday who found Payton Pritchard who drilled a three-pointer.
With 2:32 left in the half, Mazzulla decided to keep White on the bench after picking up his third foul in the first quarter.
Although tied at 58, it seems as if the Celtics had to earn every point, nothing came easy against this scrappy team.
The Celtics went on a 7-2 run to end the half and take a 65-60 lead into the break.
Jaylen Brown finished the quarter with 19 points to lead all scorers. Pritchard gave Boston a spark with Derrick White out and Kornet made hustle plays. It was a bit surprising that Xavier Tillman didn’t get on the court considering Queta’s foul troubles and Brooklyn’s big men were getting the better of Boston.
The defensive intensity for Boston went up a few notches as they started the quarter on a 15-3 run highlighted by two threes from Jayson Tatum. After only playing five minutes in the first half, Derrick White connected on a three-pointer during the run and Jaylen Brown got a steal and score to keep the momentum.
The refs called Derrick White for his fourth foul when he tried to block Ziaire Williams at the rim. Mazzulla called a timeout and challenged the play. It was a successful challenge and an amazing block from the best shot-blocking guard in the league.
Brian Scalabrine is fired up since Joe Mazzulla is going to challenge the foul called on this Derrick White block. Scal’s favorite thing in the whole universe is the GREEN LIGHT SPECIAL! pic.twitter.com/ei7iSFjXWw
— Danielle Hobeika (@DanielleHobeika) November 14, 2024
On the next possession, White got the assist for a Holiday three making it a 15-point game, 85-70 with seven minutes remaining in the third.
Mazzulla must have ripped Boston in the locker room because they looked back to their normal selves in the second half. Including a no-look alley-oop pass from Tatum to Queta to make it 90-74. The assist was Tatum’s seventh of the night.
Tatum was cooking all night but in the third quarter, he turned up the heat again. Tatum scored 15 points in the quarter for 31 total points after three quarters.
Hauser needed to step up with White in early foul trouble and he knocked down four of his first nine threes.
Boston outscored Brooklyn 38-29 in the third, to lead going into the fourth quarter leading 103-89.
Despite the Celtics taking full control of the game in the third, Brooklyn didn’t give up which is a testament to how they started the season. However, against a team like the Celtics the talent eventually overwhelms other teams (just not Atlanta….) and Boston started to cruise towards the end of the fourth.
Payton Pritchard did it all on both ends of the court. On defense, he forced a plethora of turnovers and on offense, he was in his bag. Whether it was from behind the arc or in the paint, Pritchard couldn’t be stopped offensively.
Boston grew its lead to 28, 129-101 with just over 3:30 left in the game.
Despite the Nets making 19 three-pointers, it wasn’t enough to beat Boston.
Boston will host the Toronto Raptors on Saturday at 8 p.m.
