Celtics stars Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown overpower Nets in 139-114 defeat

The Nets’ overtime thriller at TD Garden last week was, in fact, not a fluke. The circumstances were just a little better for them. The Boston Celtics were playing without Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porziņģis, missed 39 3-pointers on their home court, and Brooklyn appropriately pushed the defending champions to the brink of defeat.
However, Wednesday’s rematch at Barclays Center felt like a completely different ballgame, because it was. Brown rejoined his All-Star running mate Jayson Tatum on the wing. Brooklyn was without two impact defenders in Ben Simmons (left calf tightness) and Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle sprain).
And instead of shooting a measly 26.4% from deep, the Celtics shot a season-high 48.9% from downtown (22-of-45), racked up 18 second-chance points, forced 13 turnovers and defeated Brooklyn handily this time around, 139-114, to take a 2-0 lead on the season series. The home team made 19 treys and shot an impressive 51.3% from the field, but it did not matter in comparison to Boston’s dominance.
Fernandez could live with the loss, but he could not tolerate the negative body language his players displayed in certain stretches — acts non-synonymous with Brooklyn’s established never-quit identity.
“I’m OK with losing, but I’m not OK with, at one point in the game, not fighting,” Fernandez said. “We played a pretty good half against a very good team. You know, we come out of the half, and we kept fighting. It was not going our way, but you can never, ever, ever, quit or look defeated, whatever the case may be. We have to continue to do things the right way and if one night, the other team is better than you, then you got to respect it. But this — flashes of not doing the right things — this is not what we want to be at all.”
The Nets fell to 5-7 after Wednesday’s result and have now lost three of their past four games. Up next, the team has two games against the Knicks in three days, starting with Friday’s matchup at Madison Square Garden.
The final score was a bit jarring, especially considering how well the Nets played early. They raced out to a 14-5 lead behind stellar play at both ends of the court by Ziaire Williams, and despite being shorthanded, they led by as many as 13 points in the first quarter.
Unfortunately for them, Tatum took over toward the end of the opening period and made five of his first seven shots. Then the MVP chants started. Then all the sudden Brooklyn’s 13-point advantage had been trimmed down to two entering the second quarter. Boston, paced by Brown and Payton Pritchard who combined for 23 points in the second quarter, outscored the Nets 33-26 to take a 65-60 lead at halftime. Brooklyn’s Cam Thomas started to get it going before the break, but it was a relatively quiet night for him overall.
Tatum poured in 15 more points in the third quarter. The Celtics made seven more treys as a team and committed zero turnovers in the period. And, just like that, Brooklyn found itself down 14 points entering the final frame. It never recovered and Boston’s lead continued to grow.
“That’s not how you want to lose games,” said Nic Claxton, who had just three points and five rebounds in 24 minutes. “We have to fight all the way through.”
Williams finished with a season-high 23 points for the Nets in the loss. Thomas and Dennis Schröder added 17 and 16 points, respectively.
Tatum (36 points) and Brown (24 points) combined for 60 points in Boston’s 10th win of the season and Pritchard added 23 points off the bench.
“I mean, they almost shot 50 percent from the 3,” Williams said. “Tatum, he’s going to have his 25-30 whether it takes 20 shots or 40 shots… Brown and Tatum, they’re volume scorers, they’re going to force it regardless. I really honestly feel like it was the other guys who killed us tonight.”