Boston was up six, looking to get its lead back up to eight, their largest lead of the game, or more. Kevin Durant had just hit a shot and Boston was hoping to answer and take some control.
They could not.
Jayson Tatum (who was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week today) found Al Horford for an open 3-pointer that missed, but Payton Pritchard, of all people, snagged an offensive rebound and got it back out to Tatum. It swung to Jaylen Brown, who missed an even more open 3, but Pritchard was there again. He tried to put it back up, but he was blocked by Bruce Brown.
From there, the final five minutes would be, as Marcus Smart described them, “bedlam. Bedlam, a state of uproar. That’s exactly what it was. It was chaos. It was good chaos. It was a fun game, a fun five minutes to be a part of. A very competitive five minutes, and as a competitor that’s what you live for.”
Here’s a look inside those minutes, and how Boston was able to pull off perhaps their best win of the season.
5:01 - Kyrie Irving jumper over Robert Williams. 110-106 Celtics.
4:24 - Nic Claxton dunk. 110-108 Celtics. Celtics blitz Kevin Durant but the Nets move the ball well, slipping a pass by Robert Williams, who goes for the steal but misses.
After a Tatum miss…
3:39 - Seth Curry 3-pointer. 111-110 Nets. Boston is again scrambling on defense after doubling Durant. Smart does a good job getting out to Irving but the Celtics can’t corral the rebound and Curry makes them pay.
3:14 - Tatum two free throws - The Celtics finally start taking advantage of being in the bonus and Tatum converts. 112-111 Celtics
Key play: 2:56 - Tatum doubles Durant along with Horford, and Durant tries to give the ball up, but Jaylen Brown reads it, leaves Curry, and gets the steal. This sequence leads to a career highlight by Jayson Tatum making it 114-111 Celtics.
“We weren't going to let KD or Kyrie see just one option, we were going to throw everything we had at them and mix it up,” Smart explained. “Ime gave us a lot of freedom to really make plays whenever we feel fit to do that. There are a lot of times where we just left our guys and trusted that the guy behind us was going to be there because we were making a play. That comes along with the growth and maturity of this team and the chemistry, being able to get some games in to understand that when one guy takes off to make a play, we need to be able to make a play for him as well.”
2:28 - Irving missed shot, turnover. Smart does a decent job defending Irving straight up and Horford comes over to help. The rebound, luckily, bounces off Claxton, who had inside position on Robert Williams. Sometimes you need a bounce to go your way.
2:07 - Smart airball 3-pointer. He did a great job passing on a previous 3 to work the ball and he took one from his hottest spot on the floor, but he missed by a foot. The notable thing about this play was Tatum encouraging Smart as he came back up the floor. This was an important spot to stay up and not get deflated by a miss.
1:44 - Irving fadeaway jumper. 114-113 Celtics. Boston doubles KD, they work the ball around, Irving gets to his spot, fakes out two guys, and buries it. Beautiful possession by Brooklyn. This is a battle.
1:28 - Tatum fadeaway jumper, 116-113 Celtics. They worked Tatum against mismatches at the top of the key a lot. You’ll see him operating out of this spot again. He’s up to 51 points.
1:18 - Durant missed 3-pointer. Great challenge by Robert Williams, though I’m not going to say that alone forced the miss. Durant is unbothered by good defense, but we should acknowledge the good challenge nonetheless. The miss turns into a long rebound that leads to a Smart layup. 118-113 Celtics.
1:03 - Durant floater. 118-115 Celtics. Goran Dragic set a nice screen to prevent a hard double team and Durant hits the shot over another tight Robert Williams contest.
And now the key shot of the night.
39.6 - Jaylen Brown right corner 3-pointer. 121-115. Tatum sets a screen for Brown to get Dragic switched onto him and he drives down the right side of the lane. Claxton comes over to cut him off and Brown wisely kicks it back out. The ball goes over to Tatum again at the top of the key against Curry, but Tatum moves it back to Smart on the Irving double. Smart quickly swings it back to Brown who fakes, lets Dragic fly by him, and he drills the 3-pointer as the shot clock buzzer sounds.
Using the full :24 was huge there because now the Nets are in a rush. They have to make up six points in less than 40 seconds, which means they are now forced to play the foul game. Especially after Durant fails to grift three free throws on the next trip down.
There's some wind up there, and Durant is clearly hoping to force a foul call on Tatum to get either a 4-point play or three free throws. Hey, I don’t blame him. It’s a six point game and he’s hoping to score with the clock stopped or get four back in a hurry. It didn’t work, but it was worth a try for someone like Durant.
What we miss in the broadcast is when Tatum picks Brown up off the floor when he’s fouled at the end of that play is the huge hug Tatum gave his teammate.
31.3 - Jaylen Brown two free throws. 123-115 Celtics.
Irving hit a 3-pointer after this, but the Nets were out of time for a comeback because Tatum closed the game out with three more free throws to get to 54 points on the night.
Winning a game like this requires effort, which we saw with the way the ball swung on offense and how the Celtics were able to make just a couple of more defensive plays than Brooklyn. It requires some good bounces, like a Brooklyn bounce out of bounds and a tipped rebound that turns into a fastbreak layup. And it requires some flat-out professional shot making, which the Celtics got from Tatum and Brown. Toss in some made free throws and the ending of this game was gorgeous from a Boston perspective.
This, simply, was a wonderful game with a wonderful finish. Boston did just a little bit more on Sunday afternoon, and it turned into a signature win.