BSJ Game Report: Celtics 139, Nets 114 - Tatum, Brown attack, combine for 60 to bury Nets

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

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics started slow again, falling behind by 13 in the first, but Jayson Tatum’s 13 points cut that lead down to two heading into the second. They went back and forth but Jaylen Brown’s attacking ultimately helped the C’s go on a late run to take a five-point halftime lead. The Celtics added nine to that thanks to a dominating 15-point quarter from Tatum. They owned the fourth quarter to run away with the game.

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Jayson Tatum dominates: He was one rebound shy of a triple-double. His first and third quarters were dominant, but that third quarter felt especially so. That quarter was one of the most “I’m Jayson f’ing Tatum” kinds of performances I’ve seen in a while.

- Fixing their mistakes: Brooklyn had three offensive rebounds and four steals as compared to 20 and 16 for Atlanta yesterday. Boston only turned over eight times, and just one between Tatum and Brown. Boston also won the points in the paint battle 52-40, the field goal attempts 93-79, made free throws 17-15, and made 3-pointers 22-19. 

- A nice palate cleanser: The past few games haven't been great and yesterday’s loss was brutal. It was nice to see them run away with the game and get back to some garbage time. It just brings the stress levels down a couple of notches. 

TURNING POINT

The Celtics turned a five-point lead into a 15-point lead with a 20-10 open to the third quarter. They dominated the game after halftime. The Nets really didn’t have much of a chance in the second half. 

THINGS I LIKED

- Attacking: I am not among the “3-pointers are ruining the game” crowd, but I AM all about putting pressure on the defense. The Celtics split their 3s and 2s basically evenly tonight (47 2s, 46 3s), and of those 47 2s, all but seven came in the paint. They were 18-24 at the rim, finally driving after opening up 1-7 from 3 and only taking three 2-pointers. 

By the way, they were 21-39 from 3 after that slow start, nearly 54%. Yikes. But that was so often a result of drives, so the Celtics set them up very nicely.

- Jayson Tatum & Jaylen Brown: I felt like Tatum set the tone after that slow start, Brown picked up the baton in the second, and then Tatum got it back in the third. Both were relentless in punishing the Nets inside. Brown had 12 rebounds and was a team-best +27. Tatum finished with 36 points, 10 assists, and nine rebounds, and was a +24. Big-time response from the stars. 

“Yesterday I said that me and JT had to be better,” Brown said after the game. “We had 11 combined turnovers, tonight we only had one, so, much better. We just got to make that a habit and be that consistently throughout the year.” 

- Payton Pritchard: A bounce-back game for him, going for 23 points on 8-13 shooting (5-9 3pt) and eight assists. He also got a couple of steals and a block.

“He got some deflections, got some steals,” Joe Mazzulla said. “And then has an ability to -- he can handle the pick and roll, he can play off the ball, guys are doing a great job finding him. So playing at a high, high level for us right now. Fun to watch.”

Jrue Holiday: He gets the “you know why” tonight. 16 points, six rebounds (three offensive), four assists, three steals, one block. Whenever the Celtics needed a little something, he was there to give it. 

Sam Hauser: Nice to see him hit some shots, but also shout out to his defense. He had six rebounds and a block and a couple of tight contests on shots that won’t show up in the stat sheet. 

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE

The start: I’ll give the guys a little bit of a pass because of the back-to-back. They started slow but found their way into the game midway through the first. I'm not going to get worked up about the first six minutes being sloppy in this situation when the next 42 were as good as they were. 

That said, this is now four straight games where they’ve struggled out of the gates. 

“We started out, again, slow start. We kind of just came out aimlessly and they were pressuring us and we turned the ball over,” Brown said. “We can't have that, especially against good teams. We was able to figure it out tonight, but we got to start better.”

The early foul trouble: Derrick White was uncharacteristically lost in the first half. He got two quick fouls and then picked up a third one when Mazzulla put him back in later in the first. Pritchard picked up the slack, but this was rough. And Neemias Queta’s two very early fouls weren’t helpful either. I should give a little nod to Luke Kornet for doing enough to help without Al Horford. 

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- There are too many good players for a prolonged slump

I always find it weird when an entire team goes cold or just flat-out sucks at the same time. I never understood how nine or ten guys can ALL be off at the same time. 

But hey, it happens. The world is full of things I can’t explain (like … how did Byron Allen become a billionaire?). The key for the Celtics is bouncing back from stinkers. That's what they did last season and that's what they did in Brooklyn. 

And as we saw with Pritchard especially, there's such little chance that every single guy on this roster is going to buy into whatever goes into a long malaise. 

“I was very disappointed in myself,” Pritchard told reporters. “I felt like I came out with no energy yesterday, and it showed. We had no pop and we got humbled yesterday. We didn't respect our opponent … some days you just kind of lack energy, so mentally you gotta fight through it and try to pull out those wins.”

I think between Pritchard, Holiday, White, Brown, and Tatum, one of those guys will have what Pritchard is talking about here and snap the team out of a funk. There's always the fear that they’ll become a switch-flip team, but I think Pritchard, especially, won’t let that happen. I think all of those guys want to avoid that as much as possible. 

They’ll have another stinker like last night along the way, but I don’t think we’ll see four or five-game skids from these guys.

Next up: The Celtics get a couple of days off before hosting Toronto Saturday night.