BSJ Game Report: Celtics 114, Nets 107 - Bench keeps C's afloat, then stars throw knockout punch

Everything you need to know about the Boston Celtics Game 2 win over the Brooklyn Nets with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics struggled mightily in the early going, playing uncharacteristically frantic basketball and falling behind by as many as 17. There were a ton of fouls, there were sloppy turnovers, and there were missed defensive assignments that let Nets role players go off. Then things flipped after halftime. The Celtics' defense tightened up, Kevin Durant & Kyrie Irving couldn't hit a thing, and one of Boston’s role players went off to fuel a key stretch and monster fourth quarter for Boston to close out the 114-107 win.

Box Score

HEADLINES

Tale of two halves: In the first half, Durant was 4-7 from the field, 6-6 from the line, for 15 points. Irving had 6 points on 50% shooting. In the second, Durand was 0-10, scoring 12 points from the line only, and Irving was 1-7. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 27 points in the second half on 9-20 shooting. Boston’s duo had 17 in the fourth compared to Brooklyn’s 8. 

C’s win bench battle: Goran Dragic had 18 points, but the bench only totaled 26. Boston’s bench checked in with 30, 27 from the combination of Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard. 

Two wins when they weren’t at their best: Some of this is just playoff basketball, but the Celtics have spent two games now just not being crisp. I don't know why that's happening, but twice now they’ve settled down and finished strong. This should put to rest a lot of the “they can’t close games” talk. 

TURNING POINT

I said during the third quarter that this game felt like one of those “if only they could take the lead, they’ll run away with the game.” Well, after a third quarter where the Celtics went from down 10, to tied, to down 7, to tied, to down 5, they finally broke through. The run that finally did it was a 9-2 run capped by a Pritchard jumper.

The run topped off at 23-6, giving Boston their biggest lead of the game with 2:07 to go. 

FIVE UP

Grant Williams: He was perfect in this game, shooting 4-4 from the field, 3-3 from 3, and 6-6 from the line to finish with 17 points and 6 rebounds. He was key in the first half. 

“In moments where it looked like the game was getting away from us, Grant was the catalyst to bring it back down to earth,” Brown said. 

Payton Pritchard: He finished with 10 points on 5-7 shooting, adding 4 rebounds and an assist. He did almost all of that damage in the fourth quarter. 

Jaylen Brown: 22 points on 50% shooting to go along with 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals. 

“It makes a world of difference having Jaylen Brown as opposed to not having him like last year,” Tatum said. “He’s a competitor. I know that, we all know that. So it’s that time of year. We’re all just willing to do whatever it takes to win.”

Brown had some ups and downs defensively, and had a stretch where he would make a great defensive play one trip down and then give it back the next trip. But he stepped up when it mattered most, putting up a 10-point fourth quarter on 4-6 shooting (2-3 3pt).

Jayson Tatum: He didn’t shoot well and I wouldn’t say that he even had a very good game but he’s in this section for putting up 10 assists and setting other guys up when he didn’t have it going himself. That's what a star player does. He also had another straight up block on Kevin Durant, which you just never see. 

Al Horford: 16 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and a block and he was once again taking advantage of Brooklyn’s bigs. He also did his usual great job defensively.  

ONE DOWN

Derrick White: 3 points, 3 rebounds, and -1 in 13 minutes. Ime Udoka went with Pritchard instead and it paid off. White made some good plays in the midst of a statical bad night, and his impact is definitely the kind that defies box score numbers, but also, Boston needs box score numbers sometimes because points need to go up on the board.

TOP PLAYS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Kevin Durant is wearing down

I wrote this in my series preview: 

“Do you trust Durant and Irving to play 45 minutes a night and carry the Nets past the league’s best defense? Or do you trust Udoka and his staff’s influence over the Celtics to get them to stay disciplined and play the style that earned them the 2 seed?”

Ultimately, the latter is the case, with Boston picking on Brooklyn’s small defenders over, and over, and over again down the stretch to pull away, and Durant missing shots that, while defended well, are shots he makes. 

Durant is wearing down. 

“They’re playing two or three guys on me sometimes when I’m off the ball, mucking up actions when I run off stuff,” Durant said. “I see Horford leaving his man and coming over to hit me sometimes. There’s two or three guys hitting me wherever I go, and that’s just the nature of the beast in the playoffs, so I feel like I got a couple good shots there in the fourth that just didn’t go down. I see a few of their guys around me every time I get the ball when I’m setting up, so I’ve gotta be more patient but also play fast sometimes, too.”

Durant and Irving were second and third in minutes per game since the All-Star break and they were playing more than 40 minutes per game just to close the season and get into this spot by winning the play-in game. 

I knew that coming into this series, Durant and Irving were going to have to play even more, and that Durant especially (because of Irving’s long layoff) was going to bear the brunt of that. Factor in Boston’s physical defense and even Durant getting 20 free throws wasn’t enough to help him carry the Nets past Boston. 

He’ll get some juice from the home crowd on Saturday, and Boston’s role players will probably have off nights. I’ve said from the beginning that my Boston in 5 prediction included a Game 3 loss and I’m prepared for that. 

But it will take everything Durant has to make that happen. And then there's only one day off before Game 4, which means the lactic acid building up in his lithe body will still be there. 

The minutes these guys were playing were never sustainable.