Banner Town Breakdown: Celtics vs. Nets (Dec. 25, 2020)
Photo Credit: @HonestLarry1
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! After an exhilarating win against the Milwaukee Bucks, the Boston Celtics dueled with the Brooklyn Nets in their first matchup since their debacle of a preseason game. Brooklyn has come out of the gate swinging this season with Kevin Durant (29 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast) and Kyrie Irving (37 points, 6 reb, 8 ast) getting into a groove. With Boston having a big win over Milwaukee, a win against Brooklyn would send a not-so-subtle reminder to the rest of the Eastern Conference that this team means business.
Before the game, news came out of the passing of Celtics legend K.C. Jones at the age of 88. Jones, a former college and NBA teammate of Bill Russell, won 12 championships with the Boston Celtics as a player and coach in addition to two NCAA titles with Russell. He is one of only 7 players in history to win a title at both the college and NBA level in addition to winning an Olympic Gold Medal. Only two players are ahead of Jones for total NBA titles, his former teammates Bill Russell and Sam Jones.
As for the matchup, Robert Williams was a sudden scratch due to illness. As far as it’s been indicated, the illness isn’t COVID or else we’d have heard about the testing and the game would have been in jeopardy. With the expected absences of Walker, Langford, and Tacko Fall still dealing with an eye issue, Boston’s big rotation was suddenly thin. Regardless, Boston went with the bigger lineup of Smart/Brown/Tatum/Theis/Thompson, the same as their season opener.
The beginning of the game was a little sluggish for both teams, and they ended up trading misses for the first two minutes of the 1st quarter. Both teams shot 3/8 from range, but Boston struggled a bit from midrange. Jayson Tatum was held scoreless for the entire first quarter, Jaylen Brown shot 2/7 from the field, and Marcus Smart shot 2/6 from the field with both hits coming from deep. Each team was keeping pace with one another, but Boston began their foul struggles early in the game and it worsened over time.
In the 2nd quarter, Boston started to build momentum and get a lead going. Just after the 10-minute mark, Boston had already forced 5 turnovers for Brooklyn. Daniel Theis and Tristan Thompson both ended up in trouble early due to multiple offensive fouls as they tried to seal in front of the basket. Grant Williams played the most minutes out of the bigs through two quarters, shooting 2/3 from the field with 3 boards and 4 assists in 13 minutes of first half play. Kevin Durant struggled a bit from the field on 2/6 shooting, earning most of his points from the line on 4/5 shooting, 9 points on the half. Kyrie Irving started to get cooking with 14 points in the 2nd quarter (17 on the game) as Boston took a 54-51 lead into halftime.
Kevin Durant began to hit his stride in the 3rd quarter, shooting 5/5 (including three shots from range) and notched an assist in the first 6 minutes of the 2nd half. Brooklyn surged to a 71-63 lead. The duo of Irving and Durant traded looks as the lead grew further, scoring a combined 25 points compared to Boston’s team total of 23 in the quarter. Durant dropped 16 in the 3rd, and Brooklyn had a grip on a 86-77 lead going into the 4th quarter.
Brooklyn continued to rack up on Boston, and within the first 2:15 of the quarter, they had stretched their lead to 95-79. The Nets focused on Jayson Tatum defensively, and Boston’s offense continued to struggle as the Nets managed to outscore the Celtics 44-25 in the 2nd half with roughly 9 minutes left in the game. To say that it started to get ugly is an understatement.
The game continued to unravel from, there, and by the time all was said and done, Boston was pummeled 123-95. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 27 points (11/25), 8 rebounds and 3 assists (1 blk), while Jayson Tatum put up 20 points (9/22), 8 rebounds and 2 assists (1 stl, 1 blk). The Nets were led by Kyrie Irving who had a game-high 37 points (13/21) with 6 rebounds and 8 assists (7/10 from deep, 1 stl). Kevin Durant chipped in 29 points (9/16, 3/4 from deep, 8/9 from the line) with 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Caris Levert (10 pts, 5/8 shooting) added a boost to Brooklyn’s deep bench and Marcus Smart (13 points, 4/12 shooting, 3/7 from deep) notched 3 rebounds to go with 6 assists, 2 steals and a block. Jeff Teague had a rough game (0 points, 0/5 shooting, 0/1 from deep, 2 ast, 1 stl), and for the first time he missed a three since joining Boston.
It was a tough game towards the end, but Boston was hanging in until late in the 3rd quarter and it began to fall apart. Ultimately, Boston is missing the presence of Kemba Walker on the floor, and the lack of scoring power outside of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown becomes more evident in certain matchups. Brooklyn’s offense has been elite so far in the season, as they have started to emerge as a favorite to win the Eastern Conference in the early running. After the tough loss, Jaylen Brown had a message to concerned fans at home:
“It’s a journey. I know sometimes the fans and the media sometimes forget that....But we’re looking forward to this journey.”
It’s good to know that the team is staying level-headed among its young leaders, now is not the time to panic. It’s still very early, and what we’ve learned is not anything we haven’t already. Marcus Smart, as good as he is, cannot be depended upon to be a third option on offense, and ultimately the depth of Brooklyn’s bench proved to be too much to overcome. Boston still needs to figure out where their offense comes from if teams begin to home in defensively on Tatum, and being short-handed with Rob Williams out certainly doesn’t help. Until Walker returns or Boston makes a move to add more firepower, it will take patience and a group effort to compensate.
