One of many NBA’s worst groups made the Celtics sweat Tuesday night time on the Barclays Heart.
Boston dedicated a season-high 20 turnovers — together with eight by Jaylen Brown and one other seven from Derrick White and Payton Pritchard — and trailed the Nets early within the fourth quarter.
However Brooklyn’s upset bid fell brief, with the Celtics seizing management late to win their third straight, 113-99. The victory pushed the 8-7 Celtics above .500 for the primary time this season.
Brown offset his shoddy ball safety with a game-high 29 factors on 9-of-19 capturing. Pritchard stayed sizzling from 3-point vary (5-for-12) to complete with 22 factors, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. White had 15-5-5, plus two steals and two blocks.
The groups will play a rematch Friday night time at TD Backyard.
“It’s a protracted season,” White informed NBC Sports activities Boston sideline reporter Abby Chin. “We’ve simply acquired to maintain getting higher. Can’t be happy with something. We’ve simply acquired to maintain getting higher.”
The Nets have gained simply two video games this season — over the one groups beneath them within the Jap Convention standings coming into Tuesday’s motion, the perpetually rebuilding Wizards and injury-ravaged Pacers. They got here in ranked twenty seventh in internet ranking and lifeless final in defensive ranking.
The Celtics struggled, nonetheless, to take advantage of that league-worst protection within the early going – and to include a Brooklyn offense that got here out taking part in a lot sooner than its status. When Joe Mazzulla known as his second timeout on the 5:33 mark of the primary quarter, Boston trailed 21-11 and had surrendered 4 3-pointers in transition.
Pritchard, who performed the whole opening body, acquired the Celtics again on observe with a few threes, a pair of free throws and a pinpoint lob to Neemias Queta for a dunk. Boston closed the quarter on a 7-0 run to tie the sport at 29-29. However comparable Celtics issues persevered within the second.
Probably the most accountable workforce within the NBA from a turnover perspective (11.0 per recreation coming into Tuesday) dedicated 12 within the first half, resulting in 17 Nets factors, whereas forcing simply 4. Brooklyn additionally outscored Boston 22-0 in transition earlier than halftime, greater than doubling its NBA-low common of 8.6 fast-break factors per recreation, and had success concentrating on backup heart Luka Garza within the lane.
The Celtics’ capturing was a lot environment friendly within the first half – 61% from the sector, 52% from three, with Pritchard and Anfernee Simons (11 factors) spearheading that effort – however because of these different deficiencies, they took a slim 62-61 lead into the locker room.
Fouls grew to become a problem for Boston early within the third quarter, with starters Jordan Walsh and Queta each heading to the bench after selecting up their fourth. Josh Minott, who made 9 straight begins earlier this season earlier than being leapfrogged by Walsh, checked in and shortly canned a 3-pointer, then drew a capturing foul after a White steal.
Minott went 3-for-3 from deep within the recreation and was a plus-15 in his 19 minutes. Walsh, an ascendant participant of late who was coming off an imperfect but encouraging matchup towards James Harden, performed simply 11 minutes and was a season-worst minus-10.
White was a steadying presence early within the second half, notching two steals and a block in a two-minute span to assist Boston set up management. Brown adopted up that sequence with buckets on three consecutive possessions, together with a transition 3-pointer off a White help, because the Celtics constructed their first double-digit lead of the sport.
Seventeen of Boston’s 27 third-quarter factors got here from Brown, who later drew back-to-back-to-back capturing fouls earlier than closing the interval with a catch-and-shoot three. The Nets, although, had solutions for almost all of Brown’s makes. They trailed 89-85 coming into the fourth, then pulled forward on a Michael Porter Jr. three with 9:08 remaining.
It was solely then that the Celtics lastly started to tug away. Sam Hauser picked Terrance Mann’s pocket and hit a 3 to bookend an 8-0 Boston run. Hauser scored simply eight factors within the win, however his 2-for-5 exhibiting from past the arc was a promising growth after the brutal 5-for-34 hunch he’d been mired in. He added seven rebounds and three assists, and the Celtics outscored the Nets by 22 factors over his 22 minutes.
White added two extra triples, one in every of which capped a possession that includes three offensive rebounds, and blocked Porter from behind on a 3-point try. The Nets went greater than seven minutes and not using a made discipline objective, and Brown offered the dagger: a 31-footer that made it 107-93 with 2:55 to play.
After internet hosting Brooklyn for an NBA Cup group play recreation on Friday, the Celtics will start their hardest stretch of the season up to now. Their subsequent 5 contests all are towards seemingly playoff groups: Orlando (residence), Detroit (residence), Minnesota (highway), Cleveland (highway) and New York (residence).
Different observations:
— With Queta in foul bother and Garza scuffling, Mazzulla reached to the top of his bench and inserted Xavier Tillman halfway via the third quarter. It was the primary recreation motion for the reserve huge man since Nov. 3. Tillman performed 5 minutes and tallied one help on a Brown 3-pointer.
— Rookie Hugo Gonzalez was a wholesome DNP for the second straight recreation. He hasn’t seen a lot significant taking part in time of late, logging greater than 10 minutes in simply one in every of Boston’s final six video games.
