Celtics allow a 28-point first-half lead to slip away, fail to bounce back, and lose to the Nets
Celtics #Celtics
The Celtics dropped a 115-105 decision on Friday night to the Nets at TD Garden and slipped a full game back of the idle Bucks for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
Jaylen Brown scored 35 points to lead the Celtics, who led by 22 points after one quarter, by 28 early in the second, and by 9 at the half. Brooklyn owned the second half.
Mikal Bridges led the Nets with 38 points.
In addition to lacking the juice and buzz that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving brought, the Nets were also missing their talent. This Brooklyn team has been a clunky fit since last month’s trades, and the four-game losing streak it entered the night with provided further evidence.
During the first quarter, the Celtics appeared to be toying with the Nets. Brown tried an ambitious off-the-backboard pass to Robert Williams that was disrupted by a Brooklyn foul. Marcus Smart banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Derrick White carved through the lane for an acrobatic reverse layup.
For the most part, the Celtics got whatever shots they wanted, and Brooklyn’s offense appeared feeble. Boston shot 56.5 percent from the field in the opening quarter and roared to a 37-15 lead. The night seemed set up for the Celtics’ stars to get some well-earned rest during a blowout win.
The start of the second quarter was more of the same, with the Celtics taking a 51-23 lead, their largest, on a Brown layup with 7:23 left. But the lopsided score softened Boston’s defense, which lacked the urgency needed to finish off another NBA team. Brooklyn erupted for 32 points over the final 7:11, with the Celtics failing to offer any resistance against the Nets shooters who were scattered around the perimeter.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla seemed to sense that his team’s mind-set was not at its best even at the start, calling a rare timeout when it had a 13-5 lead and had begun to revert to casual isolation basketball. It looked then like the message was received, but it was not sustained. After one second-quarter 3-pointer during the Nets’ run, Mazzulla put his arms in the air before dropping them to his sides in frustration.
After a Celtics backcourt violation with 2.9 seconds left, Spencer Dinwiddie found Dorian Finney-Smith for an alley-oop layup at the buzzer, capping a 40-point quarter and improbably pulling the Nets within 64-55 at the break.
And for the Celtics, things deteriorated even more severely during the third quarter. Bridges ignited the 27-10 run with a 3-pointer and then ended it with a putback and a pair of free throws. When the Celtics went to the bench for a timeout near the end of that burst, the crowd that had been loving the show an hour or so earlier poured boos down instead.
Mazzulla went searching for a spark, giving Payton Pritchard and Mike Muscala second-half chances, but they made no difference. Boston trailed by 5 at the start of the fourth, but a Jayson Tatum turnover led to a Cam Johnson layup as he was fouled, and that was followed by a Bridges 8-footer that put Brooklyn in front, 100-88, with 8:09 left.