BSJ Game Report: Celtics 103, Nets 92 - Brown's 34, Tatum's late explosion, hold off Nets

Everything you need to know about the Celtics 11 point win over the Brooklyn Nets with BSJ insight and analysis

IN A NUTSHELL

The Nets stormed out to an 11-2 lead but were rebuffed by a 14-0 Celtics run that gave Boston a lead they’d work with all night long. Jaylen Brown scored 20 first-quarter points to pace the Celtics, Jayson Tatum added 11 in the second quarter to give Boston a comfortable lead. The second half was a 180, with both teams barely able to score and devolving into iso ball. The Celtics woke up midway through the fourth and rode Tatum's closing kick to the win. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

A defensive win: I’ll get more into this separately, but the Celtics can finally say their defense carried them more than the offense … not that it was aesthetically pleasing. The first half was a lot of fun. The second half was brutal to watch.

Offensive steps back … again: The Celtics were definitely due for a little bit of a regression, so that's what we’re probably seeing over the past couple of games. They shot 43% from the field and had just 17 assists. They did finish shooting 39.5% on 3-pointers, so some of the old offense was there. But they keep struggling against switching teams. 

"When our spacing is great and we make the right play at the rim, we're really good," Joe Mazzulla said. "Switching defenses the last two games have kind of tested us to do that. And so we just have to continue to get better at that."

They missed Marcus Smart in this one. One of his strengths is getting guys to move and play with pace. More on this later.

Jaylen Brown sublime again: He had 34 points after putting up 37 against Miami. On nights where Tatum was either off or slow to get going, Brown showed why he’s an All-NBA caliber player so far this year. He had a monster first quarter and also stabilized the Celtics in the third after another slow start.

TURNING POINT

Malcolm Brogdon found Al Horford for a 3-pointer that made it 81-76, triggering a 7-0 run that gave Boston the separation they’d hold on to the rest of the way. The Celtics outscored Brooklyn 23-9 after that until the 1:43 mark, when it was officially garbage time. 

THREE UP

Jaylen Brown: This is one of his better overall games as a Celtic: 34 points, 50% fg, 5-9 3pt, 9-11 ft, 10 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 4 blk… and ZERO turnovers. His 5 first-quarter 3-pointers tied a team record.

Jayson Tatum: He had NINE turnovers, which is bad. That's a disgusting number. The first five of Tatum’s turnovers were all live-ball steals. However, he woke up from his horrible start to put up 29 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist, and 4 steals, and he was still a +12. 

Malcolm Brogdon: 13/8/8 and 1 turnover to nearly match Brooklyn’s bench production (15 points) himself. 

ONE DOWN

Derrick White: Tough night for him. He shot just 1-7 overall and 1-5 from 3.  

TOP PLAYS 

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- A defensive blueprint against Boston? 

I don’t want to overreact to two games, but they are the two most recent games, and they came against talented but lesser teams. Both the Heat and the Nets play a switch-heavy defense that is like catnip to Boston. 

The Celtics are like a bass when the bait of a bad matchup comes along, and teams like Miami and Brooklyn have bad matchups all over the floor. Their best chance at defending is to switch everything, keep opponents in front, and over-help when they lull teams into isolation play. 

The Celtics know their best basketball comes when they are active and moving, setting screens, passing the ball, and forcing rotations to create an incredible amount of open looks. But they are also captivated by the mismatch so much that they are like me in front of the pizza box … They’ll have just one more iso, even though we all know it’s bad. 

This is the first real adjustment this team has to make this season. Yes, they won this game, but this could have been a much easier win if they had just kept moving the ball and getting open looks. Garbage time could have been much longer if the Celtics stuck to their offensive principles. 

Just look at the real negatives in this game: Tatum’s turnovers, White’s off night, and Horford’s poor shooting. The ball didn’t move enough, so Tatum ran into all kinds of trouble trying to do too much … a familiar refrain from the spring. The ball didn’t pop and find Boston’s scorching hot role players for clean looks. Boston’s offensive rating was 105.1, 15 points below their season average. 

“Our offense is so good that the expectation is high now,” Mazzulla said after the game. “I gotta be better during the games of managing our spacing, managing certain actions so we can get better opportunities for our guys.” 

He’s right on both counts. This team was due for a bit of a regression, and we’re seeing a little of that. But it’s now on the coach to snap his guys out of this iso, matchup-hunting stuff that stagnates the offense. 

They got away with it against Brooklyn, because the Nets are not quite that good. The Heat stole a game because of it. What’s going to happen the next time they face a switch-heavy team? 

That's climbing the list of Mazzulla’s priorities. Is it a blueprint for how to defend the Celtics? For now, it’s what has worked best. The Celtics can blow that up, though, by not taking the bait anymore. 

Next up: The Celtics head to Toronto for a back-to-back game against the Raptors tomorrow night.