BOSTON — Jayson Tatum missed all eight three-pointers he took. Jaylen Brown botched 5 pictures across the rim and watched seven bounce pictures bounce away. Seth Curry bothered Tatum on the ball. 4 offensive rebounds bounced across the rim as the group clamored for somebody to seize the ball. Mike Muscala lastly did, however the Celtics trailed by seven factors and missed their likelihood to cease their worst collapse of the season.
No one stopped Mikal Bridges as he shot 13-for-22 and 19 Celtics turnovers powered a 28 43-point Brooklyn swing, coming again down by 28 early within the second quarter to attain a 115-105 win in Boston. The Celtics, who earlier within the day scratched Malcolm Brogdon with ankle ache, misplaced Robert Williams III to a hamstring damage proper because the Nets claimed a lead.
Offense got here simply to the Celtics because the Nets struggled, and infrequently refused to protect dribble penetration. Sensible and Brown scored on transition breaks, Cam Johnson fouled 3 times in lower than three minutes and a 2-for-14 Nets begin aided Boston’s tempo. Looseness confirmed early by means of the up-and-down play, Tatum turning the ball over and Brown tossing an alley-oop to Robert Williams III off glass and getting bailed out by a foul.
The Celtics took a double-digit lead early adopted an Al Horford’s three, following the group’s acknowledgement of his 1,000th profession recreation. Brown threw down a breakout dunk and hit a spot-up three to take a 21-5 lead, then Derrick White closed out the quarter with eight factors in six minutes to go forward 37-15.
The collapse began with pull-up threes, aided by turnovers. Tatum missed a pair of jumpers, Brown hit a 3 and stored driving, hitting a layup previous Johnson to extend Boston’s benefit to 51-23 at its peak. Joe Mazzulla tried to cease the slippage, one other Tatum miss, a Sensible bounce shot didn’t fall and Grant Williams turned the ball over into the again courtroom showing after his DNP-CD on Wednesday. A flood of Celtics timeouts did little to cease the bleeding, or Mikal Bridges, who hit a pair of pictures inside to spark the comeback.
Dorian Finney-Smith began with a pair of threes and the lead dipped to 19 simply over 4 minutes. Sensible tried to tempo the lead with a layup and alley-oop to Williams III, however Royce O’Neale and Seth Curry checked in to pour in three consecutive pictures following a Bridges three. The Nets’ deficit fell to 11. Then, Brooklyn stole six straight factors within the last minute.
Boston led by 9 coming into the second half and shot 8-for-20 within the third quarter. The Nets’ run reached 47-19 after Bridges and Finney-Smith added further threes. Brooklyn outscore the Celtics by 32 factors over 14 minutes round halftime, and after lacking a pair of free throws and fouling Johnson inside, Williams III darted to the locker room with left hamstring tightness and didn’t return. Performs later, Luke Kornet tossed a cross out-of-bounds with some extent clean look and didn’t choose up Bridges crashing the offense glass. Boos ensued.
Johnson’s free throws secured the lead, Bridges pushed it to eight factors and Patty Mills danced alongside the opposing sideline after Finney-Smith capped a 9-for-18 begin to the third. A barrage of Brooklyn offensive rebounds ended the body, Mazzulla changing Tatum with Payton Pritchard and a Brown-led bench unit searching for a spark, however the star’s aggressive drives received swallowed up within the paint repeatedly.
Bridges reached 38 factors within the fourth quarter on a trio of bounce pictures that expanded Brooklyn’s result in double-digits. White tried to toss a one-handed cross to his left and a Sensible-led rally inside single digits, briefly, solely intrigued the group momentarily. Horford missed a layup on the rim, Dinwiddie scored within the different path and the Nets despatched an upset Friday crowd to exits — as angered as they’ve been since this scene performed out repeatedly final winter.
The Celtics shut the house stand in opposition to the Knicks at 7:30 EST on Sunday.
