Post Game - Celtics vs. Brooklyn Nets - Tuesday, February 13 (W)

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401585399

Celtics-Nets takeaways: Tatum drops 41 in C's sixth straight road win

https://sports.yahoo.com/celtics-nets-takeaways-tatum-drops-032546226.html

Justin Leger
Tue, Feb 13, 2024, 10:25 PM EST·6 min read




Celtics-Nets takeaways: Tatum drops 41 in C's sixth straight road win originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Three Key Storylines

Jayson Tatum takes over
No Porzingis, no problem
Finding success in the paint

The Boston Celtics took down the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night for their sixth consecutive road win and fifth straight overall.

It was a tightly contested first half, then the C's pulled away to enter the break with a whopping 72 points for a 15-point lead. Jayson Tatum was the catalyst for the run as he tied his career-high with 31 points in the half.

According to Celtics stats guru Dick Lipe, it was the 13th time Boston has scored at least 70 points in the first half this season. That ties its franchise record, set during its 1959-60 championship campaign.



The Celtics extended their lead to as many as 23 points before the Nets made a last-ditch effort in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn took advantage of some sloppy second-half play by Boston to cut the deficit to six in crunch time. It wasn't enough, however, as the C's closed out a 118-110 victory.

Tatum finished with 41 points, his highest total since his 45-point performance vs. Minnesota in a game that went to overtime on Jan. 10. With Kristaps Porzingis (back) sidelined, the rest of the starting lineup stepped up to score in double figures. Jaylen Brown was the second-highest scorer with 19.

Mikal Bridges led the Nets with 27 points while Cam Thomas chipped in 26, including 12 in the fourth quarter.

The Celtics and Nets will have a rematch at TD Garden on Wednesday night, marking Boston's final game before the All-Star break. First, here are our takeaways from Tuesday's action.

Jayson Tatum asserts his dominance

This was one of those vintage Jayson Tatum takeover games, and it was evident from the opening tip.

The five-time All-Star immediately made his mark on the game with a 16-point first quarter. He has only scored more than 16 in the first quarter once in his career. Coincidentally, that also came against the Nets last February when he dropped 18 and finished with 46.

Tatum tacked on another 15 points in the second to enter the half with 31. That tied his career-high for points in the first half, which he has now accomplished three times. He almost single-handedly outscored the Nets' starting five (32 points) through the first two frames.



The Barclays Center crowd rained MVP chants on Tatum early in the game. The 25-year-old also gave the fans his signature "kiss of death" during his first-half outburst, which you can watch in its entirety below:



Tatum ended up with 41 points on 14-of-26 shooting (5-11 3-PT). It was the 25th 40-point performance of his career and his third of the season.

He also made a major difference on the defensive end, especially with the game on the line in the fourth quarter. He earned a double-double with 14 rebounds to go with five assists, two steals, and a block.

This dominant outing continues what's been a torrid stretch for Tatum. He has put up monster numbers during the Celtics' five-game win streak, as C's radio voice Sean Grande pointed out below:



No Porzingis, no problem

Porzingis was a game-time decision due to a low back contusion and opted not to suit up with only two games until the All-Star break. Given the 7-foot-2 Latvian's injury history, it probably was a wise decision to give him some rest.

The Celtics handled their business without their star big man. While Tatum dropped 41, the rest of the starting lineup picked up the slack with double-digit scoring.

Brown was the second-highest scorer with 19 points on 7-of-19 shooting. Derrick White and Porzingis' replacement Al Horford tallied 16 apiece. Jrue Holiday added 14 on 6-of-10 shooting.



Horford in particular was outstanding. The 37-year-old veteran scored 11 of his 16 points in the first half. He made all six of his shots (2-2 3-PT) while playing stellar defense. He added six rebounds, four assists, and a steal in 36 minutes.

With the Celtics set to play the second night of a back-to-back on Wednesday, Horford almost certainly will sit. That means Boston could be severely short-handed in its frontcourt if Horford, Porzingis, and the recently acquired Xavier Tillman are out. Expect plenty of Luke Kornet and Neemias Queta if that's the case.

Painting a different picture

The Celtics have been scrutinized all season for relying on 3-pointers and not taking enough shots in the paint. Former C's big man Kendrick Perkins added to the criticism Tuesday during ESPN's NBA Today.

”I would love to see more post-ups from the wings and the guards,” Perkins said. “When you think about Jayson Tatum, 6-9, 6-10, wide shoulders and his variety of moves that he has on that low-block and mid-post area. Jrue Holiday is an underrated post-guard. When he gets a player of his size, his strength and his ability to get to his spots is so underrated. It’s times when you see Jaylen Brown’s somewhat disappeared throughout the offense. Again, it’s about finding that balance and not just being a 3-point shooting team.”

Perhaps coach Joe Mazzulla and the Celtics took notice. Their first 16 points scored against Brooklyn came in the paint. They had 20 points in the paint during the first quarter and 32 in the first half.

This actually marked the fourth consecutive game that the Celtics scored at least 18 points in the paint during the first quarter. The stretch has shown that Boston can dominant the game in different ways, not only the 3-ball. However, it's clear that 3-pointers remain a critical part of the Celtics' success as they didn't pull away against the Nets until they started making their shots from beyond the arc.

The C's ended up with 50 points in the paint in the win.

From another perspective:


Brooklyn Nets lose slog to Boston Celtics 118-110

https://www.netsdaily.com/2024/2/13/24072499/nets-vs-celtics-118-110-cam-thomas


The Nets didn’t have the best player on the court, and they did nothing to make up for it.

By Lucas Kaplan  Feb 13, 2024, 11:04pm EST  78 Comments / 78 New




Just when you thought you were in, they push you back out.

It was all rosy for the Brooklyn Nets entering the first half of their home-and-home back-to-back against the Boston Celtics. Finally healthy, Day’Ron Sharpe was set to play his first game in over a month, following the path of Dorian Finney-Smith and Lonnie Walker IV. Thus, Cam Johnson the only rotation player still absent, with a return imminent.

The Celtics would be missing starting center Kristaps Porzingis, likely the team’s second-best player, an off-season acquisition who has elevated Boston into historic territory.

If the Nets could just manage a split against Boston, perhaps winning the first game at home, it’d send them into the All-Star break with real momentum and a revamped roster behind not just health, but the arrival of Dennis Schröder.

In the first quarter on Wednesday, such hope persisted. After a mediocre start behind a still-awkward Ben Simmons-Nic Claxton pairing, a groovy lineup featuring three guards in Schröder, Dennis Smith Jr., and Lonnie Walker IV torched Boston’s zone defense.

Walker made his first five shots on the night, scoring ten of his 15 points in the first quarter...



The Nets trailed 36-30 after a dozen, partly because Jayson Tatum couldn’t miss, partly because the three-guard lineup that also sported Finney-Smith at the five got worked on the interior.

But shots were dropping. Day’Ron Sharpe checked in toward the end of the quarter and immediately started throwing his weight around, Boston looked mortal, and Brooklyn was competing.

None of it foreshadowed a brutal second quarter, in which the visitors opened up a 20-point lead. Tatum exploded for 31 in the half, frying any and all comers on switches, and leaking out for easy dunks that ignited a pretty green Barclays Center crowd.

“It was interesting,” said Vaughn of defending Boston’s best player. “He got a couple of threes ... So it’ll be interesting to watch it again. These high-level guys, once they get going — we started to trap him a little bit, but they have so much shooting out there. It’ll be interesting to watch it again and see what kind of adjustments we can make.”

Other than Walker, it was tough to say any Net truly showed up. Brooklyn’s starters scored 32 points in total, barely edging out Tatum by himself. Mikal Bridges made a couple shots just before the half to cut the deficit to a respectable 72-57, but it felt much worse.

Claxton wasn’t the dominant force he’d been in recent weeks, as passes slipped through his hands and Al Horford easily kept pace with him on the boards. With the Nets unable to run in transition, Ben Simmons looked not invisible on offense, but ghastly, air-balling multiple shots. He’d finish with 5/6/8 after Celtics Head Coach Joe Mazzulla intentionally sent him to the line multiple times in the second quarter, making for one slog of a watch.

It wasn’t about any one player, though. The Nets just didn’t bring it; even shooting 8-of-16 from three in the half wasn’t enough to save this kind of effort...



Eventually, the Nets found the right combination. It was just too late; a real comeback wasn’t happening after Boston created a game-high 23-point lead midway through the third.

Cam Thomas got real hot, however, and scored 19 of his 26 in the second half. He simply turned the aggressiveness up, hunted catch-and-shoot threes, and bailed Brooklyn’s offense out repeatedly...



Thomas also commented on the officiating, which wasn’t the reason Brooklyn lost, but certainly didn’t help matters. The third-year guard likely got the worst of the whistle, a curious trend for him over the past few weeks: “I’ve definitely noticed a shift in the officiating towards me for some reason, I don’t know what the reason is. But, you know, I’m just gonna keep trying to attack, keep getting fouls, playing my game, getting pressure on the defense, trying to get to the line the best I can. But it’s tough. What’d I shoot, 2-for-2? I mean, as much as I go to the basket and draw contact, two free-throws is crazy.”

Elsewhere, Bridges’ numbers out-weighed his true impact, as he went quiet for key stretches of the night, but he still finished with a team-high 27 points on 10-of-20 shooting.

Down the stretch, Brooklyn’s two offensive leaders and a feisty but inaccurate Schröder, one of Simmons/Claxton, and rookie Jalen Wilson duked it out with the Eastern Conference’s best team.

Once again, Wilson impressed, whether it was making physical box-outs, defensive rotations, or bold 3-pointers. He’d finish with nine points on a perfect 3-of-3 from three...



Said Bridges of his younger teammate post game, “just credit to his hard work he’s been putting in, I mean, since he’s been playing basketball and even when he got to the league. Just staying sharp and just being ready as well.”

But despite shooting a 15-of-33 from deep, or 45.5%, the Nets never made enough plays to truly threaten the Celtics, to inch closer than six points late in the fourth.

The box score paints an optimistic picture of this one. On paper, Brooklyn shot the lights out from deep, their two leading scorers shot 10-of-20 against an elite defense and combined for 53 points. They only grabbed two fewer boards than Boston, and fouled less, two key areas the Vaughn identified in pregame. Tatum went off for 41, sure, but he went quiet in the second half, and none of his excellent teammates hit the 20-mark.

None of that tells the story of Tuesday’s loss, though. Brooklyn, with two days of rest and a stable of rotation players, let go of the rope in the second quarter, and that decided the game. Missed box-out and miscommunications came at back-breaking moments. Sharpe only played nine minutes and Dorian Finney-Smith played just 19 thanks to health-related restrictions, but their play didn’t leave fans begging for more either.

Boston never stepped on Brooklyn’s necks, but they didn’t have to.

So much for those improved vibes.

Milestone Watch

One individual milestone came of the loss, thanks to Brooklyn’s premier rim-protector.

Nic Claxton blocked two shots, and now stands at 388 in his career. That moves him past Kenyon Martin for 10th all-time in Nets NBA history. Next up is Shawn Bradley with 410.

Injury Update

The Brooklyn Nets’ injury report on Tuesday evening was the shortest it’s been since Opening Night. Vaughn was without Cam Johnson and and Dariq Whitehead, who will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on hs left shin.

Johnson, however, “is on track to play” in Boston on Wednesday night, per Jacque Vaughn. Given that Whitehead was rarely with the big-league squad before his injury, Johnson’s return from an adductor injury could have finally made the Nets whole heading into the All-Star Break.


However, Ben Simmons will miss the second half of the back-to-back with scheduled injury maintenance.

When asked if such restrictions will come to an end after the break, the Aussie replied, “I don’t know. That’s a question for the medical team.”

Clara Wu Tsai receives humanitarian award from King family

Clara Wu Tsai, co-owner of the Brooklyn Nets (and New York Liberty and San Diego Seals), was honored after the first quarter of Tuesday’s loss.

During the brief intermission, she received the 2023 ‘Dreamer Award’ from Realizing the Dream, a non-profit founded by Martin Luther King III and currently run by the King family.



The award is given to a “select number of extraordinary individuals across the country who have done inspiring work to create a more just and equitable world,” per the organization.

Next Up

Boston Celtics v Brooklyn Nets




Let’s do it again, I guess. The Brooklyn Nets will take on the Celtics at TD Garden on Wednesday night. Tip-off for the Valentine’s Day special is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.

I think we're just going to have to accept the fact for now that even as young/middle aged as this team is, they don't get revved up until about the 3rd Quarter. And when they do, there's no turning back. They steamroll. Then they let up some in the 4th but not enough to blow the game. That's what's happening now. GSW used to be known at a 3rd Quarter team. They perfected it so well that the starters would sit the 4th most of the time. We're not there yet. As JT makes clear, we have further to go.

There's danger in playing the game this way. Our games vs. MIL and Clips are cases in point. Sometimes we play teams that get out of the gate quicker. Then we've dug ourselves a hole in which we can't get out. But for now, we've got the best record by a good stretch. So things are working in our favor. Should we tinker? Absolutely. CJ likes to tinker. Do we have time? Yes we do. We've got a week off and nothing but time preparing for the stretch run to the playoffs.

Keep up the good work Celtics and keep looking for ways to improve! Tonight they showed it ain't all 3-ball. We can bang with the best of them or get open dunks and lay ups. Keep mixing it up.

db

I hate that our 20 point leads always seem to get cut down to single digits.  Last night was a great opportunity to smoke those fools and rest our starters for the SEGABABA but we let them back into it.  As a result all our sterters played high 30's minutes.  Brooklyn had one player who played 40 (Bridges) another who played 34 (Cam Thomas) and the rest of the Brooklyn starters played < 30.  Guess who's going to be fresher tonight?

One of the reasons for that is their bench outscored ours 39-12.  They shot a combined 4-11 with Pritchard leading the debacle shooting 1-6.  That is neither an adequate number of fgas nor fgm and Tillman and Springer are going to fix this issue.  I will say that I thought Luke played well.  He had 5 points on 2-2 and 5 rebounds in just 15 minutes.  2 of his 5 rebounds and there were a lot of incidences in which he contested, unsuccessfully, for other offensive rebounds which throws off the timing of the other team's tempo.  Can't run until you're sure you have possession of the ball, right?  We had 14 fast break points, Brooklyn only had 8.

Tatum had 31 first half points.  There have only been 4X in Celtic history in which a Celtic scored 31 points by the half, and all of them have been by Jayson Tatum.  In the 2nd half, however, he only had 10 points and 3 assists.

We had 3 turnovers at the half and had 10 in the 2nd half.  Jaylen had 3 of those 10, Jayson had 2, Jrue had 2 and Derrick had 1.  There's 8 out of 10 coming from our starters.  Fatigue, maybe?  Not matching their energy levels?  10 turnovers in a half is what we should expect from an NBA doormat, not a team competing for #18.  They swarmed us and we waited too long to pass out of it.  Furthermore, nobody moved to the ball.  They stood there and waited for the pass.  

Frankly, I'm amazed we only gave up 110 points.  They shot 49% overall, 45% from 3, had 28 assists on 39 fgm which is evidence of either excellent ball movement or the defense letting the Nets just walk into 3s.

Jrue Holiday with 12 assists and 3 turnovers.  Every Celtic starter had 3+ assists.  Jrue also had 14 points, 2 steals and 5 rebounds.  A BIG game from Jrue.










1959-1960 was the era of fast break basketball lead by The Houdini of the Hardwood, Bob Cousy. They were high scoring games back then, so for us to be in that same conversation is pretty impressive.


We go at it against these same bums tonight.  One more game before the ASG, and then we can rest.



Bob


.

NYCelt wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:Anyone concerned over Jaylen? He hasn’t had his usual efficient games in a long time. He is 5-30 from 3 recently and has been in a funk since the Clipper game. I’m not seeing the finishes/dunks that we are used to. Jaylen at this level is nowhere near what he was doing prior to the Clipper game.

Among the possible reasons for what appears to be a recent fall-off in production for Brown might be first quarter play utilization.

Until the last few games there was a heavy emphasis on set plays getting the ball to Brown, especially outside. That has changed somewhat with an increase in first quarter set plays going to Porzingis, both outside and in the post.

They were talking about it pre-game, the recent emphasis on going to Porzingis in the 1st quarter.

Still, Jaylen has been in a horrible slump from 3-point land. Zero for double digits attempts horrible, until he finally hit one the other night. Some time off may help, but good luck with that for him, he has a lot on his plate next week.

bobh,

In reference to who will have the fresher legs tonight? I'll go with Boston. SEGABABA's appear to be our specialty. And now that I've said that, they'll come out and take the night off. Let's hope Joe has them ready. Home crowd needs to fire them up.

MIL thought they were one of the better teams with SEGABABA's. MIA put a sock in that theory. And that was without Butler. MIL back to the old no-show DameTime defense. Stripes. Can't wash them off. Let's see if they wake up against lowly MEM on Thursday.

dboss, those are some very highly encouraging, well thought-out stats! We do look good!! Thank you for reminding us how far we have come and to enjoy some really great basketball being played by the Celtics!!

db