POST GAME BROOKLYN NETS - AWAY

Celtics Wrap: Rough Third Quarter Leads To 110-96 Loss Vs. Nets

NESN by Logan Mullen on Sat, Mar 30, 2019 at 8:18PM

As has been the case many times this season, the Boston Celtics followed up an exciting win with a disappointing loss.

After earning an important victory over the Indiana Pacers on Friday, the Celtics dropped a 110-96 decision to the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday at Barclays Center.

Pretty much the entire first half was even, with both sides trading blows throughout the first 24 minutes. But a meltdown in the third quarter by the Celtics allowed the Nets to take a commanding lead, which they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the way.

Gordon Hayward led the Celtics with 19 points. Daniel Theis and Marcus Morris, both of whom scored 16 points, were the only other C’s in double figures.

D’Angelo Russell scored 29 points and was once of five Nets in double figures.

With the loss, the Celtics fall to 45-32, while the Nets climb to 39-38 with the win.

Here’s how it all went down.

STARTING FIVE
PG: Terry Rozier
SG: Marcus Smart
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Marcus Morris
C: Aron Baynes

SHORTHANDED C’S
The Celtics were without Kyrie Irving (back) and Al Horford (knee) Saturday night.

CELTICS CLAIM FIRST
Though the Celtics did go on a bit of an offensive dry spell, they led the Nets 21-17 after one quarter.

During the middle stages of the quarter, the C’s missed seven consecutive shots, which allowed the Nets to string together a 7-0 run, ultimately taking a 14-12 lead with 3:38 left. The Celtics responded with a 6-0 run of their own, scoring nine of the frame’s last 12 points.

Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart each had five points in the opening quarter.

NETS SHOW SOME FIGHT
Boston started hot in the second quarter, but the Nets quickly took over. Brooklyn took a 49-48 lead into the half after outscoring the visitors 32-27 in the frame.

The C’s kicked off the second by scoring seven unanswered over the first 1:29, which upped their lead to 11, the biggest advantage of the game for either side to that point. Brooklyn responded well throughout the quarter though, chipping away until it finally took a 42-41 lead on a Caris LeVert triple with 2:47 left. Until Aron Baynes hit a 3-pointer with 70 seconds left in the half to trim Boston’s deficit to three, the Nets were on a 17-3 run.

DeMarre Carroll led all players with 11 first-half points. Hayward and Brad Wanamaker paced the C’s with eight points apiece in the first two quarters.

D-LO GOES OFF
Russell went scorched earth in the third quarter, guiding the Nets to a 82-70 lead after they outscored the C’s 33-22 in the stanza.

Brooklyn quickly opened its advantage to nine by beginning the third quarter on a 10-2 run, and they didn’t stop there. The Nets spent the first 7:06 of the frame pummeling the Celtics, outscoring them 25-9. In that stretch, Russell was responsible for 18 points.

The Celtics showed a touch of fight in the final moments of the quarter, though they couldn’t trim the lead down to anything closer than 11. Russell finished with 20 third-quarter points.

NETS SEAL DEAL
Things initially looked promising for the Celtics, as they got the deficit to 10 in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, but the Nets quickly squashed that hope. Brooklyn proceeded to pile points on to get their advantage back up to 16 before C’s head coach Brad Stevens called a timeout with 6:48 left.

That was about as much of a comeback as the Celtics had in them, as they were unable to get back within single digits the rest of the way. Trailing 109-94 with 2:04 left, Stevens effectively waved the white flag by subbing in Robert Williams, Semi Ojeleye and Guerschon Yabusele.

PLAY OF THE GAME
Nice linkup between Hayward and Theis.

UP NEXT
The Celtics will return home for a tilt with the Miami Heat on Monday. Tip from TD Garden is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.

112288

BS

112288

It sure wasn’t the best game of the year

Consistently inconsistent. Not a quality any team wants with the playoffs only two weeks away.

oh well

Missing two starters against a decent team playing their first home game after 17 days on the road, and we're on the 2nd game of a b2b. We shouldn't be too shocked at the result.

There are sanctuaries for chimpanzees in Florida and Louisiana. I propose we fire the entire NBA referee corp after this season is over and use the summer to train the chimps for their next great career. It will improve the NBA product. I have watched almost every Celtic game this year (I might have missed one or two, unlike Rosalie) and I have watched other games. I think I can count the number of well-refereed games this year on the fingers of one hand. There are 3 refs, 10 players on the floor at any one time. They don't have to pay attention to the ones on the bench, just the 10 on the floor. The players tend to congregate in groups on one side of the court, offense being pressed by defenders, it's not like they are all spread out all over the 94' court. And yet, for some reason...

The veterans showed up. The kids didn't.

Morris 16 points on 4-11, 5 rebounds. Not good fg%, but points. Theis 16 points on 7-9, 2 blocks. Hayward 19 points on 7-12, 6 rebounds. Wanamaker, technically a rookie but 29 years old, 8 points and 3 assists in 13 minutes (he fouled out on some very questionable whistles).

There's 59 points out of 96, a total of 91 player minutes out of 240. 61.4% of the points in just 38% of the minutes. That's efficient.

Tatum 9 points on 4-9. Smart 9 points on 3-10. Rozier 2 points on 1-8. Brown 9 points on 3-10. 29 points in 111 player minutes. 30% of the points in 46% of the minutes.

I think we can comfortably stop claiming that Tatum's growth is being hampered by Kyrie. This was his moment to step up and shine and The Phantom delivered a lackluster game.

I am SO done with Rozier. He's a legend in his own mind if he thinks he's a starting NBA guard. At this point, what I think will happen, is that some idiotic GM will throw big bucks at TRo ($12M-15M) and Danny will just let him go. He won't even be able to trade for him, maybe a 2nd round pick. I'd like to say he played himself out of a big contract but my enduring faith in the short-sightedness of NBA GMs still leads me to believe I'm wrong.

The one young'un who did well was Williams, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks in 8 minutes, but it's hard to raise him to the rafters when he only played 8 minutes. The same is true, in the opposite direction, with Semi Ojelaye. He was 1-4 and was sloppy with the ball, but he only played 9 minute so I can't blame this hot mess on him. You have to have gotten rotation minutes for that.

Which part of "D'Angelo Russell is very left-handed and goes almost exclusively to his left" hasn't sunk in yet?

Fortunately Indy lost too. We are still in 4th place by virtue of the tiebreaker but we are going to Indy and, if we lose there, they will catch us. We need to win out and for them to miss one more.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401071810



bob



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Need games like this heading to the finish line if you want 4th.

Let's see how they take care of business in Indy. Would sure help if everyone is healthy and on the floor.

Come Monday morning The Celtics team is required to attend a gamblers anonymous class.

They play like degenerate gamblers.  They go to the casino and win big and then give it all back.  They do this over and over again all season .

I did not post after the Pacers big win because I just knew they would give it back against Brooklyn.  The team we fleeced so horribly is now fleecing us on the court.

Worse player on the court Terry Rozier.  Are you kidding me?  There were more than a few players that did not play well but Mr. Scary was a horror flick.  Me and the Mrs sat there and counted the number of times Terry got lost on defense.  There was no effort to stay on his man.  There was no effort to extract himself from screens.  He really, really sucked.

Indiana lost last night so there are no changes in the standings top 5.  

The Celtics have 5 games remaining.  I see a split with the Heat (hopefully) and I expect them to lose on the road to Indiana.  They should be able to beat Orlando and Washingto,  That will give them a 3-2 record the rest of the way.

Anyone know what the tie breakers are?  I see Indy going 3-2 over the last 5 games including a win at home against Boston.  I see them finishing 2-2 head to head against Boston and in a virtual tie for 4th place.

1. Better record in head-to-head games
2. Division winner (this criterion is applied regardless of whether the tied teams are in the same division)
3. Higher winning percentage within division (if teams are in the same division)
4. Higher winning percentage in conference games
5. Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in own conference
6. Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in the opposite conference
7. Higher point differential between points scored and points allowed

dboss wrote:Come Monday morning The Celtics team is required to attend a gamblers anonymous class.

They play like degenerate gamblers.  They go to the casino and win big and then give it all back.  They do this over and over again all season .

There's an interesting comparison I've never seen before!

NYCelt wrote:

dboss wrote:Come Monday morning The Celtics team is required to attend a gamblers anonymous class.

They play like degenerate gamblers.  They go to the casino and win big and then give it all back.  They do this over and over again all season .

There's an interesting comparison I've never seen before!

Damn the rules that force the Celtics to go back to the "casino".

swish