BSJ Game Report: Celtics 129, Nets 106 - Defense and fast-paced offense fuel another easy win

Everything you need to know about the Boston Celtics win over the Brooklyn Nets with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics came out strong once again, building an early double-digit lead. They scuffled a little bit in the second quarter, but recovered late to actually add to their lead at the half. They were in total control in the second half and cruised to an easy win.

Box Score

HEADLINES

They played the right way: They ran off stops (23 fastbreak points), they attacked (54 points in the paint), and they moved the ball (28 assists). Of their 129 points scored, all but FOUR came in the paint, at the free throw line, or on 3-pointers … and two of those four were because of a foot on the line. This is how you play modern NBA basketball regardless of opponent. 

The defense was especially good: You look at the box score and think “well, nine steals are nice but only three blocks, what’s so special about the defense?” The Celtics did a great job of forcing the Nets to work late into the shot clock to get their shots and then limiting them to just one. Brooklyn got eight offensive rebounds but Boston cleared away 40 defensive rebounds.

“Defensively the guys have bought in, they’re getting physical and living up to that mantra we’ve talked about all year,” Ime Udoka said. “But that’s rewarding. It’s good to see it, and we rely on it every night.”

Celtics get some standings help: The Cavaliers lost (they were without Darius Garland and Caris LeVert due to injury) and now the Celtics head into the weekend a game out of fifth and games against Detroit and Indiana. The Cavs face Washington Saturday, but without two key players, this could be a chance for the Celtics to leapfrog them in the standings. 

TURNING POINT

The Nets had actually cut the lead down to 55-43 with 3:27 to go in the second quarter, threatening to get Boston’s lead back down into the single digits. But a Robert Williams putback and a vicious Jayson Tatum dunk were of a quick 7-0 run to squash those Nets hopes. 

SECOND GUESS

Did these guys really need to be in there as long as they were in the fourth quarter? I’m not going to make too much of a fuss over it because it’s super nit-picky and Udoka is probably still having flashbacks from pulling guys too soon earlier in the season. But this game felt a little different.

SIX UP

Jayson Tatum: My favorite moment was him diving for a loose ball late in the third quarter with the C’s up 22. Do you want your star player to risk getting hurt in that situation? Not really. But the message that sends in that moment is pretty big for this team. He also dropped 30 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal on 50% shooting. 

Jaylen Brown: As usual, he had it going early, but the real nice thing to see was the ball movement and his 6 assists. He was also super-aggressive in transition and got himself to the line 8 times. 

Robert Williams: A nice double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds), but he had that well-timed putback and was just in the right place a lot offensively.  

Al Horford: He had a nice line with 11 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. He was everywhere defensively. He ripped down one rebound, pushed the ball out himself, and then found Brown for a fun fastbreak finish early in the game. 

Marcus Smart: He only shot 6 times, and all of them were 3-pointers. He made 5 of them. But more than anything, he was, again, one of the primary pushers of pace. 

“It started with Smart,” Horford said. “He’s really doing a good job of that and I feel like that’s been the biggest difference these past few weeks.” 

ZERO DOWN

This was just a well-executed game from everyone out there. Maybe I can nitpick Brown and Horford going 2-11 combined on 3-pointers, but they were all good shots.

TOP PLAYS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

Patience is a virtue

The NBA season is long. For a team that was scuffling along at .500 like Boston, the long season actually provided it time to figure themselves out. 

“Health and time,” Udoka said of the team’s turnaround. “Just the time it takes for a new staff, a new group, to kinda hammer some things out and then health was hindering us earlier in the year. So getting back there, having our full group for some consistent amount of time has turned things around.”

Health and time. What a novel concept. 

Imagine a new, rookie coach, with a new system, asking players to do entirely new things on the floor, without having his full roster together for more than a few days until mid-January, would need time.

“Some of our struggles were not only lineup and personnel based,” Udoka said. “You get a perception coming from the outside of what guys can do and what works with your team. And it takes a little time to tweak that and tinker with things, and I think our package has been much cleaner using guys to their advantage.” 

So no, Ime didn’t need to be fired a month into his tenure. He just needed to figure out what he actually had and how to actually use everyone. 

Could some things have been handled differently? Of course. And maybe he could have if the team wasn’t dealing with injuries or COVID. 

But this recent stretch of play, when the team is fully healthy, shows how much patience was really necessary to let these guys figure things out. 

The players swore up and down that they’d get it. They spent a lot of time after some truly horrible performances promising there were better times ahead. 

It turns out they were right. 

Boston is now 35-26 with 21 games left. If they can manage to go 15-6 the rest of the way, they will finish this season as a 50-win team. I can hardly believe that it's possible, but it's not unreasonable for Boston to win 15 more games. 

Fire Ime? How about some Coach of the Year votes if he can get a .500 team to slide that decimal point over a couple of spots?