Nets turn it around, in a hurry

BOSTON — When the Nets walked into the TD Garden a month ago, it seemed like everything was headed in the right direction

Since then, the Nets have been buffeted by mega trades and mega losses. The result was the Nets were a team with no superstars and very little hope heading into Friday night’s game against the Celtics.

Instead, they surprised almost everyone at TD Garden by putting together a monster second half to beat the Boston Celtics, 115-105.

The win over a team with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference ended a four-game losing streak. It also was the first sign since the Nets dealt away Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant that this team might be able to right the ship and get into the playoffs.

“Oh boy, how about that?” a smiling Jacque Vaughn said. “We figured it out as the game went on. We found a way and I’m proud of this group and the way they kept problem solving.”

The Nets, who trailed by 28 points early in the second quarter, outscored the Celtics, 60-41, in the second half as they picked up one of their biggest wins of the season.

Mikal Bridges led the Nets with 38 points on 13-for-22 shooting. Dorian Finney-Smith tallied 17 points (5-of-11 from deep) with nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks. It was Finney-Smith’s third game with five or more three-pointers made this season and his first since Dec. 6 with Dallas at Denver. Spencer Dinwiddie also had 17 points.

The Nets held Jayson Tatum to 22 points and 0-for-8 shooting from behind the arc. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 35 points.

For the first time since Durant and Irving were traded, the Nets (35-28) looked like a team that is beginning to understand each other.

The Nets have had a horrible time overcoming bad starts all season. When they lost to the Celtics here on Feb. 1, they all but gave up after falling behind by 30 points in the first quarter. In their 142-118 loss to the Knicks on Wednesday, the Nets fell behind by 18 points early in the second quarter and never recovered.

Friday night, after falling behind by 28 early in the second quarter, the Nets never gave up.

First, they made 62% of their shots in the second quarter, narrowing the Celtics’ lead to 64-55 at the half on Finney-Smith’s alley-oop. The Nets kept the accelerator on to start the second half and managed to take their first lead of the game when Cam Johnson hit two free throws with 6:11 left.

The Nets’ defense, which has struggled to find its rhythm since the trade deadline, held the Celtics to just 20 points in the third quarter, allowing the Nets to take an 88-84 lead. After that, the Nets never trailed.

Friday morning, Nic Claxton had talked about how hard it was to form a defensive identity when the team was starting four new players — Johnson, Finney-Smith, Bridges and Dinwiddie — who weren’t used to the switching defense that the Nets like to play and Claxton excelled in. Complicating things further, Ben Simmons — one of their better defenders — has been out with back and knee issues since the All-Star break.

“We’re trying to adjust our defense,” Vaughn said. “And we’re trying to figure it out. The last few games have been bad as you can see, giving up way too many points. But we’re having practices and walk throughs and we’ll figure it out.”

Friday night, they may just have done that.

Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.