Post Game - Celtics vs. Brooklyn Nets - Wednesday, February 14 (W)

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401585408

Celtics-Nets takeaways: C's enter All-Star break with blowout win

https://sports.yahoo.com/celtics-nets-takeaways-cs-enter-025817538.html

Justin Leger
Wed, Feb 14, 2024, 9:58 PM EST·5 min read




Celtics-Nets takeaways: C's enter All-Star break with blowout win originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Three Key Storylines

Headband D-White dominates
Hauser, Pritchard belong in the 3-point contest
A blowout of epic proportions

The Boston Celtics are rolling into the NBA All-Star break with six consecutive wins and the league's best record.

They improved to 43-12 with a wire-to-wire victory in Wednesday's rematch with the Brooklyn Nets at TD Garden. After earning a hard-fought win Tuesday at Barclays Center, the C's blew out their Eastern Conference foe in front of the home crowd, 136-86.

The game was all but over after the first half, during which Boston outscored Brooklyn 68-32. That's the fewest number of points allowed by the Celtics in a half this season and their largest halftime lead since 2010.

Wednesday's victory marked the 100th of Joe Mazzulla's head-coaching career. He becomes the fifth-quickest NBA coach (137 games) ever to reach the 100-win milestone.



Payton Pritchard led the way for the C's with a team-high 28 points. Derrick White and Jayson Tatum -- both wearing white headbands -- added 27 and 20 points respectively before being benched for the fourth quarter with the big lead. Kristaps Porzingis returned to the lineup and scored 15 points before sitting out the second half.

It's officially the All-Star break for the C's, who will have Tatum and Brown representing the team in the 2024 NBA All-Star Game on Sunday. Brown will also participate in the Slam-Dunk Contest on Saturday.

Before we turn the page to All-Star Weekend, here are three takeaways from Wednesday night's blowout.

Headband D-White dominates

Jayson Tatum and Derrick White decided to join Jrue Holiday and don white headbands for Wednesday's game. White explained the surprise fashion statement to NBC Sports Boston's Abby Chin at halftime.

"JT said he wanted to wear a headband, so I said I'll ride with you," White said.



Perhaps they're on to something, because they both put on a show for the TD Garden crowd in the final game ahead of the break.

White went off for 19 points in the first half and finished with 27 on 10-of-16 shooting (5-10 3-PT) through three quarters. He sat the entire fourth quarter with Boston up 46.

He added five rebounds and four assists to his stat line, but the number that really jumped off the page was his +44.



White's outstanding performance served as one last reminder that he deserved a spot in this weekend's NBA All-Star Game. As Mazzulla put it, "Clearly, winning isn't important."

Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard belong in the 3-point contest

Earlier this month, sharpshooter Sam Hauser told our Abby Chin he would be interested in participating in the 3-point contest during All-Star Weekend.

“It would be cool, for sure. I’m not really hanging my head over it," he said. "If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t… If I don’t end up going, I get to spend more time with my family, which I’ll love. If I do get to go, it’ll be cool to be part of.”

Unfortunately, he was not selected as one of the eight participants, and that's a shame. Hauser has been a tremendous 3-point shooter off the bench for Boston over the last two years. He entered Wednesday's game shooting 40.9 percent from beyond the arc.

Hauser improved on that number in the win over Brooklyn. Starting in place of Jaylen Brown (right shoulder contusion), the 26-year-old went 4-of-7 from deep (5-8 FG) and finished with 14 points in 29 minutes. He also logged five rebounds, two assists, and a steal.



Hauser undoubtedly deserves an invitation to the 3-point contest at some point in his career, and he should be joined by Payton Pritchard.

Pritchard provided a reminder of his 3-point prowess with an exceptional showing on Wednesday. The 26-year-old guard took advantage of his boost in playing time (31 minutes) and went a scorching 6-for-9 from deep (11-16 FG). He finished with a team-high 28 points, just two points shy of tying his career-high.



Let the petitioning for Hauser and Pritchard to participate in next year's 3-point contest begin.

A blowout of epic proportions

The Celtics beat the Nets by a whopping 50 points, but just how dominant were they on Wednesday night? Let's put the emphatic victory in a proper perspective...

Brooklyn's 86 points marked the lowest total against Boston this season

It was the C's second-largest margin of victory this season. Their largest was a 51-point over Indiana.

Largest halftime lead (36) since 2010 vs. the New Jersey Nets.

Their fifth 50-point win in franchise history

Not a bad way to head into the break. Celtics basketball returns Feb. 22 when they visit the Chicago Bulls.

The headbands obviously made the difference.

From another perspective:



Brooklyn Nets soil themselves in Boston, lose 136-86. ‘You gotta fix it,’ says Mikal Bridges

https://www.netsdaily.com/2024/2/14/24073497/nets-vs-celtics-136-86-jacque-vaughn

You kidding me?

By Lucas Kaplan Feb 14, 2024, 10:34pm EST 50 Comments / 50 New




Final Score: Boston Celtics 136, Brooklyn Nets 86

Yep. That’s the whole story from Wednesday’s game, the worst Nets loss since 1978, 46 long years ago.

No excuses. It was the final game before the All-Star break for both sides, and both had taken the short flight up from Brooklyn on Tuesday night. If there was to be any letdown, hey, the Celtics have a seven-game lead for the East’s one seed. And they were missing two key players in Al Hereford and Jaylen Brown.

Now, Ben Simmons missed the game with scheduled injury maintenance, but everybody else was available for Jacque Vaughn, with Cam Johnson returning from an adductor injury.

The end result? A 50-point loss, which makes you think, “How on Earth did the Portland Trail Blazers lose a game by 62 this season?” Or perhaps, “How is this not the worst loss in franchise history?” Maybe even, “How did I end up watching this team on Valentine’s Day?”

It hasn’t been three years since the Nets, led by not one, nor two, but three of the premier players of their generation waltzed into TD Garden and pile-drove a depleted Celtics team into the mud in Game 4 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs...


It was, by any measure, one of the best offensive games any team has ever played in the postseason, and a viciously fun reminder to the evil Celtics that they weren’t going to be messing with, or even sniffing Brooklyn in the coming years. Nets World Order, right?

Less than a year later, the Celtics returned the favor and swept Brooklyn out of the playoffs, again in the first round.

Brooklyn’s precipitous fall from the best offense we’d ever seen to first-round cannon fodder for contenders whose internal organs weren’t failing won’t be forgotten. Not by Nets fans, not by future documentarians, not by a beat writer recapping an unrelated shellacking almost two years later. That story will be forever told and re-told.

But it won’t cover Brooklyn’s rock bottom, though calling this 50-point loss to Boston “rock bottom” might only taunt the devil into turning the heat up.

All the Nets really had to do this season was be feisty and compete. To represent the “Brooklyn grit” everyone in the organization, all the way up to Sean Marks and Joe Tsai, had vouched for. The plan is the plan, and it was set in motion when the Nets didn’t trade Mikal Bridges and Dorian Finney-Smith for a combined six first-rounders at the 2023 NBA Trade deadline.

Alright, fine. Go have a fun year, probably missing out on the playoffs — even on their best days, there is not much offensive talent on the roster — but setting yourself up in the long-term. Create buzz. as cliché as it sounds.

Ending the first half of the season by letting a rival drop a 50-bomb on you (FIFTY!) encapsulates how that effort is going. The starting point guard, who’s known this organization longer than any other Net, pretty openly quit on the team. Brooklyn is now 8-23 since December 13. They are 9-26 against teams above .500.

After 17 minutes of game-time on Wednesday night, the Nets had 17 points. It never got better. When Boston’s deep-bench players like Neemias Queta and Oshae Brissett weren’t throwing down windmills, they were hanging on the rim after dunking with both hands.

There are so many fascinating stories in the NBA this season, from these very Celtics to the drama of the Milwaukee Bucks, to the New York Knicks’ ascendance, to the young Oklahoma City Thunder arriving in full force. Maybe you’re curious about the three-star experiments of the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns, or the Denver Nuggets’ quest to repeat, or the Minnesota Timberwolves putting it all together. And LeBron is on the Lakers, by the way.

It would take a hefty, hefty embarrassment for the national media — dying to get to the All-Star break as much as the players are — to turn their attention to Eastern Conference’s 11-seed on the last day of the first half of the season. Well, the Nets produced such an embarrassment.

It’s the type of loss where changes soon follow. It’s the type of loss where such media will ask, “What is going on in Brooklyn?”

Nobody has the answers. Certainly not Mikal Bridges...



So, who is going to fix it? How? If it’s going to get fixed, Mikal Bridges is going to play a big role, right? He is, after all, the face of the franchise.

As a treat for their dominant start to the season, Boston held a carnival at TD Garden on Valentine’s Day. And the Nets were the traveling circus.

Milestone Watch

Not your typical milestones.

Brooklyn’s 50-point loss is tied for the fourth-largest loss by any NBA team this season, somehow. As aforementioned, the Blazers lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder by 62 points on January 11.

Again, it is not quite the largest loss in Nets history. In 1978, they lost to the Houston Rockets by 52 points. Thank goodness the Celtics dribbled out the clock on their last two possessions. It is the biggest loss in the Brooklyn era, however, steaming right past two 44-point bummers.

Next Up

The All-Star break is finally here. Thank goodness. Unsurprisingly, the Nets will not be sending a representative to Indianapolis, and will instead pick action back up against the Toronto Raptors, on the road on February 22.

Tip-off on the Thursday night is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET.

It was the headbands.

Good to see us landing haymakers all game. Our defense was flying around and smothering everything on the perimeter. Could have taken Tatum out 5-10 minutes earlier. Best overall game I’ve ever seen from Pritch, his decision making and scoring were on point. Keep it up Pritch, would love to see him continuing to play like this.

When was the last time you saw the Celtics beat somebody by 50?  Well, if you've been paying attention, this is the 2nd time this season!  We beat Indy in the 4th game of the season, on November 1st, 155-104.  TWO 50-point wins in a single season, and we still have 1/3 of the season left, so don't take off your seatbelts yet.


Cameron Tabatabaie
@CTabatabaie
Boston wins 136-86, the fifth 50-point victory in franchise history




What's lost in this tweet/X is that the Celtics only have five 50-point games in franchise history, total, and two of them came this season.


The 86 points scored by the Nyets is the lowest points given up by the Celtics this season.

Pritchard projects himself as a very confident player, but it's obvious when he hits a few in a row and is and when doesn't hit his shots and he isn't.  When he feels it he goes up to an entire different level.  IF he has his rhythm in the playoffs we are going to be very tough because an aggressive and confident Payton Pritchard is very solid depth behind Jrue and Derrick.  Fast PP was the game high scorer last night.  28 points on 11-16, 6-9 from 3 assists and zero turnovers in 31 minutes.  Payton is currently 7th in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio @ 4.8:1 (Al Horford is 11th @ 3.9:1, #1 among non-guards, btw).




I was afraid our starters would be tired after playing long minutes in Brooklyn.  I forgot about the best 6th Man in the league, the TD Garden crowd.  Our energy levels and focus were sky-high last night the whole night.  Basketball is a game of runs and Brooklyn never really went on a big run because we got back in transition, we contested for rebounds at their end and just generally ran good offensive sets.

Luke with 3 blocks.  Luke with 8 points on 4-5 shooting.  Luke with 8 rebounds, 4 of them offensive and a helluvalot more that were contested that he didn't get but that still disrupted Brooklyn's transition to offense.  Luke singing Beyonce while miked up.  Luke had a really good 18 minutes.  His counterpart, Nick Claxton, had 8 points, 6 rebounds, 2 offensive and zero blocks in 21 minutes.  I'm gushing about Luke a bit but he's showing us something that is not always as common as we would like, and that is he is always ready.  Some players don't play well coming off the bench.  Some players play well coming off the bench but only if they are getting regular, predictable minutes.  Payton last year is a good example of a player who had a bad year because he couldn't mentally handle the unpredictability of his situation.  Limited as he is Luke plays a pretty consistent game whenever his number gets called and games may fly by and it isn't but he still comes in and does what he's capable of.  He should avoid karaoke, though, that was the weakest part of his performance last night.


Sean Grande
@SeanGrandePBP
Funny what a 50-point win can do for your scoring margin....




#1 and 3, 2008 and 1986, were Championship years.  It doesn't always translate, in 1973 for example the Knicks won their last title, but it's a decent indicator.










Joe Mazzulla with his 100th win in just 2 years.  Most new coaches come in and take over a dysfunctional or roster-imbalanced team, that's why the last coach got fired.  Joe was lucky enough to take over a team that went to the Finals the previous year, but the rest has been him.

John Karalis @John_Karalis
yesterday
Derrick White on Joe Mazzulla and his personality “he likes the uncomfortable more than most people like the uncomfortable”


Cameron Tabatabaie
Cameron Tabatabaie @CTabatabaie
yesterday
Derrick White on Mazzulla: Great guy, great coach, I love playing for him


We got a glimpse of the Jordan Walsh Experience last night and it was as I expected.  Not much offensively but his feet will slide on defense.  Some things need improvement, of course, but I saw a lot of high energy defense.  He was around the ball a lot.  The only Celtic who played who didn't score but I don't care.  He had 5 rebounds, 1 offensive, a steal and a block in 17 minutes, a +10.  A couple of pretty weak "welcome to the bigs, rook" whistles from the zebras but those are to be expected too.  Hopefully we have enough blowouts this year he gets to play in so that he can get those out of the way and the refs will feel like they've hazed him enough.


Bobby Manning @RealBobManning
yesterday
Mazzulla was looking for energy tonight & had been getting positive feedback on Walsh's defense up in Maine. Led to his first real minutes down multiple players tonight. Joe has stressed that defense, not statistical output, is the key for the Maine players to break through


Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Payton Pritchard said he sees Jordan Walsh working every day and believes Walsh will be a special player.

I don't know how much of this is just Payton saying nice things about a teammate but, if he's even close to right, even a good player taken with the 38th pick is a coup for Brad.  And let's remember that Jordan Walsh won't turn 20 until March 3rd.


Bobby Manning @RealBobManning
yesterday
Kristaps Porzingis said he rolled his ankle stepping on someone's foot and it was nothing serious. He was available for the second half.


Bobby Manning @RealBobManning
yesterday
Porzingis: "We know we have to show up every night ... there are many small things I can point out ... I haven't stopped smiling being here." Noted there's a higher standard in Boston than there has been in other places.

Welcome to Boston, Z.


Bob


.

On Walsh I had mentioned on the game on I liked what I was seeing from him defensively. You can see his defense belongs and he is a natural for covering multiple positions already. As soon as he gets on his man he is right on top of them so fast. Remember how skinny Tatum was his rookie year? Well look at him now, if this kid has a work ethic near either J, he is going to put on functional strength/muscle real fast and he will be a real problem out there. This guy Brad is really good a what he is doing.

Mission accomplished

"The Celtics have a chance to secure a 5-2 home stand if they can beat the Hawks on Wednesday and Wizards on Friday. In between those games, on Thursday, the trade deadline will happen. The Celtics will head to Miami for a Sunday game and will play in Crooklyn on Tuesday. The Nets games will be the first game of another set of B2B. The second game will be played in Boston. Then we will have the All-star break.

My hope is for Boston to play well in the upcoming 5 games."

The Celtics brought a can of whip-arse to the game.  This was a wire to wire beatdown.  The Celtics finished this run to the ASG with an impressive 5 for 5 win streak.

We are way past the halfway mark of the season and in spite of a few games that were not good, this Celtics team is a freight train rolling along.

My excitement and anticipation continues to increase.  

There are only 27 games remaining (12 home and 15 away).

What I want to see most of all is for the Celtics defense to get better with the understanding that another level beyond that will also be required once the playoff rounds begin.  

After the break, all of us probably want to see the new guys.  I do not know if there will be a lot of minutes available   We still have 4 B2B games remaining so maybe Tillman will get to play in those games.  Who knows.  The Celtics have managed AH and KP and what has made that possible is having additional depth off the bench.  Now another layer of center depth has been added.  Tillman may be just a situational component.

At this point in the season, I think it makes sense to cut back on JH playing time.  He is averaging 33.3 MPG.  These are not easy minutes.  He is 33 years old and has a few miles on that body.  Every game he is banging against guys that are bigger than him.   I think this is where the Celtics could use newly acquired SG Jaden Springer.  

CJ now has more defensive option to utilize.  How this works out is unknown.  The Celtics biggest asset may be their great chemistry.  CJ is not going to mess with that just to play more guys.  Rotation minutes for the new guys will have to make sense for him to use them.