PLAYOFFS 2022 - ROUND 1 - GAME 2 - CROOKLYN - HOME

Celtics rally in 2nd half, beat Nets 114-107 for 2-0 lead

ESPN BOSTON
BOSTON -- — Jaylen Brown scored 22 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, and the Boston Celtics rallied from 17 points down to beat the Brooklyn Nets 114-107 on Wednesday night and take a 2-0 lead in their first-round series.

Jayson Tatum added 19 points for the Celtics, who held Kevin Durant without a basket in the second half. Al Horford had 16 points, Daniel Theis scored 15 and Payton Pritchard had eight of his 10 in the final period.

Durant finished with 27 points but struggled from the field for the second straight game, shooting 4 of 17. Kyrie Irving had just 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting a day after being fined $50,000 for directing obscene gestures and profane language at Celtics fans during Game 1.

The series shifts to Brooklyn for Game 3 on Saturday night.

Durant and Irving were a combined 1 for 17 in the second half. Bruce Brown finished with 23 points and Seth Curry added 16.

The TD Garden faithful peppered Irving with boos throughout, beginning with the pregame introductions. The volume ratcheted up after tipoff with the addition of "Kyrie sucks! Kyrie sucks!" chants on each of Brooklyn's first two possessions. The boos returned whenever he got his hands on the ball.

Boston trailed the entire first half but finally caught up to tie it at 79 on a short jumper by Daniel Theis. The Nets were able to settle in and took a 90-85 edge to the final period.

The Celtics tied it up again at 92 early in the fourth on a leaner by Jaylen Brown and took their first lead of the game with 7:48 left on a jumper by Pritchard.

It was part of 23-4 run that grew the Celtics' lead to 108-96. The Nets went almost three minutes without a basket during the stretch.

The barrage of boos fans aimed at Irving did little to rattle Brooklyn early. The Nets jumped out to a 9-0 lead, which led to a quick Boston timeout. Bruce Brown had all nine points, part of a 12-point quarter that helped put Brooklyn in front 33-24.

The lead increased to 45-31 in the second, prompting another Celtics timeout. During the break, Marcus Smart, who injured his left thumb minutes earlier while diving on the floor after a loose ball, could be seen grimacing as trainers attended to him on the bench.

He got the thumb taped and remained in the game, scoring six straight points.

Brooklyn settled in and got its lead as high as 15 before a late flurry by Boston helped it trim the deficit to 65-55 at half.

TIP-INS

Nets: Irving, who is observing Ramadan, came out of the game with 3:23 left in the first quarter. He went to locker room and returned with food, the sun having just set in Boston. … Curry was called for a flagrant foul in the first after he grabbed Tatum's arm and knocked him to the ground while breaking up a sure fast-break basket.

Celtics: Had nine turnovers in the first half.

MAKING PROGRESS

Nets: Ben Simmons went through some contact work with teammates on Wednesday, which coach Steve Nash called "another step" in the point guard's rehab efforts on his injured back. But Nash said an ESPN report that Simmons could return to action as early as Game 4 was news to him.

Celtics center Robert Williams III has started participating in 3-on-3 play, coach Ime Udoka said.

Though Udoka cautioned the team still isn't anticipating him recovering from his recent knee surgery to return in time for this series.

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4 takeaways as Celtics stars rally late, claim 2-0 series lead over Nets

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown exploded in the second half to lead a huge rally.

BOSTON.COM - Celtics Nets takeaways - By Tom Westerholm

The Celtics could have folded any number of times in Game 2 of their first-round series against the Nets.

They could have fallen behind by 20 in the first half. They could have crashed in the second half when Al Horford was in foul trouble and the Nets stopped giving Grant Williams open 3-pointers. They could have let the back-breaking offensive rebounds kill their spirit.

But the Celtics didn’t fold. They got just enough offense in the first half to set the table for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who — as they proved once again on Wednesday — are both entirely too talented to be held in check for 48 minutes.

The Celtics won the fourth quarter 29-17 behind huge baskets by Brown in particular (22 points, 9-for-18 from the floor), but Tatum put the game away with a floater driving across the lane, and this dagger 3-pointer.

The Celtics’ playoff run hasn’t always looked pretty after two games, but they hold a 2-0 series lead heading back to Brooklyn. A solid start.

Other takeaways

2. The Celtics defended Kevin Durant hyper-aggressively for the second consecutive game and were rewarded once again. All evening, Durant was harassed by the Celtics who clearly were willing to sacrifice some free throws — and some buckets by Bruce Brown — in exchange for making Durant uncomfortable. The results paid off — Durant finished with 27 points but was 4-for-17 from the floor with six turnovers, and he was a staggering 0-for-10 in the second half.

‘He’s doing more every day’: Robert Williams makes…
These are the initial takeaways which will be edited later this evening, so consider this a prediction: In a time-honored playoff coaching tradition, Steve Nash will complain about the treatment of his superstar heading back to Brooklyn. Still, Nash’s case is a little less convincing since Durant took 20 free throws.

3. The Celtics might very well have gone down by 20-plus in the first half if it wasn’t for Grant Williams, who cashed in all three of his 3-point attempts in the first two periods. Williams and Al Horford combined for 23 points on 10 shots in the first half and kept the Celtics within striking distance, which set the stage for the Celtics to take a lead with their 14-3 run in the fourth quarter.

4. Marcus Smart was honored as the Defensive Player of the Year prior to the game. The Celtics dimmed the lights and had ownership present him with the trophy, along with Gary Payton — the last guard to win the award. Smart also showed up to the arena in a boxer’s robe with the letters “DPOY.”


112288

AMAZING GAME!

AMAZING COACH!

AMAZING TEAM!

THAT'S ALL FOLKS!

112288

Okay Ktron, here's the first one I found . . .

This one is an eye opener . . .

Here's another . . .

Boxscore Beauty!

VERY ARTISTIC GYSO!

MY COMPLEMENTS!

112288

112288 wrote:VERY ARTISTIC GYSO!

MY COMPLEMENTS!

112288

Sorry, I cannot take credit. I am a picture poacher!!

This one is for Cow . . .

gyso wrote:

“As far as we know”

Lol who wasn’t shouting when he put us up in 4th?

Defense wins championships, we took out their best player. In an ugly game, that was a thing of beauty.

Speaking of Payton Pritchard . . .

Phew!  Loved the win.  Hope the Celts don't have a drop in intensity for Game 3.  It will be just amazing to pull out Game 3.

Also, can't wait for the brilliant Ben Simmons to show up and save the Nets. Like anybody is distracted by that smoke screen.

Points / Rebounds / Assists



Tatum is averaging 9 assists per game.
Playoff Al is averaging a double-double.

Rarely have I been as proud of a Celtics team as I am of this one. The playoff eight have all been special, except perhaps D. White on offense. The defensive intensity is of the charts.

My apologies to Grant for having no faith in him his first two years in the NBA. How much has he improved? What a find by Danny. PP is an assassin. Marcus is the heart and soul of this team. Jaylen - what's with the 9 assists on a regular basis? Ten last night! Al Horford - SO glad he is back, Theis - what a great pickup he has been.

worcester wrote:Rarely have I been as proud of a Celtics team as I am of this one. The playoff eight have all been special, except perhaps D. White on offense. The defensive intensity is of the charts.

My apologies to Grant for having no faith in him his first two years in the NBA. How much has he improved? What a find by Danny. PP is an assassin. Marcus is the heart and soul of this team. Jaylen - what's with the 9 assists on a regular basis? Ten last night! Al Horford - SO glad he is back, Theis - what a great pickup he has been.

You meant Jayson with the 10 assists, they are doubling him on his drives and he is making the right read.

That 4th quarter was so great by us, Jaylen coming alive, taking it right at the heart of their defense as only he can. PP adding a spark and giving us the lead, interestingly enough, no 3’s by Pritch, used elite footwork to set up his midrange daggers. If White keeps giving us no offense, the Pritch will be getting more PT. We are destroying the legacy of Kevin Durant, we just keep hitting and bumping him the whole game, by the 4th he’s all beat up and he’s too slow to escape our pack of hungry wolves that are all over him. How great was that seeing Jaylen steal the ball from him repeatedly leading to fast break dunks by Tatum!!! We got the serious athletes in this series and they don’t. He can run, but he can’t hide- Joe Louis. Kill the body and the head will die- Smokin Joe Frazier

You are right Cow. I meant Jayson had the ten assists. Our defense is simply wearing down KD. It is a breakthrough in basketball history to watch the Celtics D so effectively contain one of the greatest scorers in the history of the game.

Boston's true MVP? Ime Udoka, for getting this team to buy into his system. Kudos to the entire coaching staff too.

PP has definitely earned more minutes.

Al Horford should get his full paycheck next year. We'd be foolish to let him go.