Nets crash back to reality following ugly blowout loss to Celtics
What goes up, eventually, must come down.
After defeating the league-best Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday, Brooklyn came crashing down, and hard, in a humbling, back-to-reality loss to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday.
The final score: 149-115.
The Celtics, who were without All-Star starter Kemba Walker (rest), ran up the score, taking advantage of a Nets defense that couldn’t stay out of foul trouble or defend the three-point line. Boston made 25 of its 35 free throws and shot 20-of-39 from behind the arc.
And they did it to a Nets team that welcomed their three bubble stars back from resting the prior night. Both teams were playing the second game of a back-to-back: Fatigue can’t be an excuse.
“We came out and played with the same energy we had the last two games. Then, we kind of got away from what led to a lot of our successes these last two games,” said Joe Harris. “We didn’t rebound the ball well, we didn’t defend well, a lot of turnovers, not a lot of assists. We weren’t making that extra pass that we have been, and there were a lot of 50-50 balls that we didn’t get either. We just got outworked. Against a team (that) is obviously just more talented, you’re going to lose the way we did.”
Nets interim head coach Jacque Vaughn said he wanted to make it tough for the Celtics to get clean three-point looks, but his team did not execute on that end of the floor. He admitted there were multiple “breakdowns” that led to Boston getting such open, comfortable looks on the perimeter.
“Going into the game, we really wanted to take away their catch-and-shoot opportunities. We were keeping track of them throughout the course of the game,” he said. “If they were going to shoot the three-ball, we wanted it to be off the bounce. So we definitely had some breakdowns tonight.”
Both Harris and Caris LeVert shot 6-of-14 from the field. Jarrett Allen finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists. But the Nets had no answer for Boston’s trio of forwards.
Gordon Hayward bullied his way to the foul line to turn in 13 first half points. Jayson Tatum committed three fouls in his first six minutes of play, but did not commit another foul all game and finished with 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting from three. Tatum still looked in All-Star form, knocking down contested threes with ease, as if the defense never existed.
“Just not playing smart. Fouled too many shooters,” Vaughn said during the break between the first and second quarters. “We need to play better and we will.”
Newsflash: The Nets didn’t play any better in the second. They turned the ball over seven more times and finished the first half 4-of-15 after pelting the Bucks for 21 threes the previous night. Brooklyn finished 8-of-32 from downtown.
Meanwhile, Jaylen Brown added five threes of his own on top of Tatum’s, running up a game-high 21 points on a Nets team that had just peppered the Bucks from three the night before.
“Obviously Boston’s a really good team. They played really well tonight,” said LeVert. “Wish we would have had more competitive spirit starting the game, especially in the first half. I feel like they took advantage of it. They played a great game tonight.”
Three standout attendees to the Nets’ loss on Wednesday? Nets general manager Sean Marks, former Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson and former New York Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy. Marks has been with the team since they landed in the Orlando bubble. Jackson tuned in as a virtual fan — as all bubble games are played in empty arenas populated by fans who tune in remotely — and Van Gundy called the game as an analyst on the ESPN broadcast.
Both Jackson and Van Gundy have been tied to the Nets head coaching job Vaughn is fighting to retain.
And one standout player, not just in Brooklyn’s loss to the Celtics but also their win over the Bucks? Undrafted rookie guard Jeremiah Martin, who brought grit and defensive activity to the floor against Milwaukee, then turned in 20 points in 15 minutes off the bench on 8-of-12 shooting from the field.
“Really he’s just playing with a lot of energy, and to see him continue to work on his game at practice, on the off days and for him to have success on the floor, and for me as a coach, it doesn’t matter what time of the game it is,” Vaughn said of Martin, who played in the G-League before the Nets signed him for the rest of the season. “Whether he’s starting or finishing a game, in a game that’s a three-point game or a 30-point game. The way I was raised in this league, it means something. So it shows that he has some fight in him, and it was good to see him have some success.”
The 34-point loss to the Celtics doesn’t help matters much for Vaughn, but the Nets have one day to shake it off. A win would have clinched Brooklyn’s standing as a playoff team. Instead they lost on the same day as the ninth-seed Washington Wizards, and need another win (and another Wizards loss) to secure their postseason spot.
“As far as level of urgency, I feel like we need to have that each and every night. Obviously it would have been nice to secure that spot tonight, but there’s always another opportunity,” said LeVert. “Friday’s another day, another opportunity for us to go out there and compete for a full 48 minutes as a team. I think we’ll be ready for that task.”
Next up: The Sacramento Kings, who will be playing the second game of a back-to-back after their Thursday matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans.
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