The first 16 minutes on Friday night went as well as it could for the Boston Celtics, who held a 28-point lead over the Brooklyn Nets early in the second quarter. But instead of driving to another comfortable win over an Eastern Conference opponent, they were booed off the floor a few hours later after an embarrassing 115-105 loss.
With 7:23 in the second quarter, Jaylen Brown hit a layup to give the Celtics a 51-23 lead. As the game progressed, the Nets beat the Celtics 92-54 in the league’s biggest comeback of the season. The 28-point turnaround also marked the biggest comeback in Nets franchise history.
While the Celtics eventually lost the game in the second half, the real turning point came late in the second quarter when the Nets closed the frame with a 16-4 run. Like many teams with big leads, the Celtics took their foot off the gas and lost focus, and the Nets took advantage. Nothing summed this up better than the final sequence, when the Celtics botched an easy inbounds play, resulting in a summer beat layup for Dorian Finney-Smith to reduce the deficit to single digits before the break.
For whatever reason, the Celtics could never regain their focus or intensity. In fact, during his televised interview between the third and fourth quarters, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla admitted that the Nets “played a little harder” than his team.
“That was the first time we couldn’t get it back,” Mazzulla added after the game. “I thought we did a good job of keeping our composure and balance all year. In those moments, when the other team starts playing well and changes their mindset, we just have to adapt to the environment. It is difficult .”
But it wasn’t just a case of better effort. The Nets also made more plays on both sides of the ball. Mikal Bridges finished with 38 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, while Cam Johnson (20), Finney Smith (17) and Dinwiddie (17) all had at least 17 points. The Nets also forced 19 Celtics turnovers which they converted to 21 points at the other end.
“They beat us in every possible analytical category,” Mazzulla said. “If we don’t commit to the margins, we won’t win no matter how hard we play. They have more 3s, they have more shots, they have more free throws, they have more offensive rebounds, and they turned it around less. You can play as hard as you want, you won’t win that way.
The Celtics have grappled with inconsistencies and bizarre results this season. They are 3-1 with the Orlando Magic, are 30 points behind the Indiana Pacers in a game they eventually lost by five, and were beaten by 33 points by an Oklahoma City Thunder team that was without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander .
However, this loss is the worst of all. They were at home and playing against a side who had just traded their top two players and had lost four in a row when they came into the game and held a 28-point lead. But while many fans and the media are rightly concerned about what such a slump says about their playoff prospects, Tatum and company don’t see it that way.
“We lost, it was tough. disbelief? No, we didn’t play well,” said Tatum, who celebrated his 25th birthday with a shooting line of 10-of-23 from the field and 0-of-8-3. “They played better than us and usually you lose. So it’s not disbelief, I don’t even know if it’s anger. We play too many games to be angry. Go ahead, get ready for the next one. It is essentially what it is.”