Watching The Celtics Beat The Nets (Again) Will Never Get Old

Nathaniel S. Butler. Getty Images.

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At this point, I don't know if anyone either within the Celtics or their fanbase considers the Brooklyn Nets a rival. Nobody really gives a shit that Kyrie left the Celtics to go to the Nets anymore which was probably the root of their initial beef. If you include their playoff series this past Spring, the Celts have now won 8 straight against the Nets so if this is supposed to be a rivalry, it's certainly one sided. Brooklyn isn't the only Atlantic team this is true of when it comes to the Celts "rivalries", but last night pretty much confirmed what we already knew when it came to these two teams

The Celts and Nets are miles apart.

That doesn't mean the Nets can't be good. They've started to show some flashes and were winners of 4 straight heading into last night's game. They're probably better than their record (13-12) indicates, but this game was a perfect example of why their ceiling isn't quite as high as some of the other true contenders in the conference. It's a roster issue. I know Ben Simmons didn't play in this game, but it's clear the Celts simply have too much size and too much shooting for this team to handle. That's OK, they're not alone in that regard, but at this point I don't know how that could be a debate.

For me, this game was more about the Celts mindset. Could they bounce back on the road against a team that's playing well and will be motivated to beat them after dropping that OT heartbreaker against the Heat. This team has been really good about not letting things snowball, so I wanted to see how they kicked this road trip off. Snagging a win with TOR coming up next on a B2B was pretty important, and this time they'd be without Rob and Smart. 

The result? An ugly win, but a win nonetheless. Last time I checked it counts all the same as the Celts improved their record to an NBA best 19-5. If anything last night was a game that was more about confirmation. It pretty much confirmed what we already knew, not just about these two teams, but about the Celts roster as well. 

And while they may not be a rival, it will always be fun watching the Celts beat the Nets, so let's dive in.

The Good

- A few weeks ago, I sent this tweet

Now I tweet a lot, often times in real time of a game where emotions are all over the place. Almost nothing ages well, but that's just part of the gig. This? This is aging BEAUTIFULLY. It might be the most correct things I've ever said if we're being honest. Right after we watched Jaylen go out and drop 37/14/5, he backed it up with this

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Let me ask you this. Do you think maybe Jaylen was taking this game agains KD and the Nets personally? With all the trade rumor bullshit that BKN tried to leak over the summer? This man was possessed. I've seen Jaylen be locked in before, but how he looked in the first quarter of this game (20 points) was probably the most locked in I've ever seen him be. We know First Quarter Jaylen is a monster, but this was an even higher level of production. Some are calling it All NBA level and I'd have to agree. Remember, he's doing all of this as the second offensive option!

Jaylen's performance is a perfect example of what I was talking about when it comes to these rosters. Who do the Nets have to guard this man on the perimeter? Especially in games that Simmons doesn't play? Jaylen's formula was pretty simple. Kill them from the outside early, then once they step up to take that away, use your athleticism and get to the rim with ease

Kyrie, KD, Joe Harris, Seth Curry, Cam Thomas, TJ Warren, it didn't really matter who the Nets tried. Jaylen gave them all the business with relative ease. Not only was his scoring great, but Jaylen also went 9-11 from the line. I don't think people are making a big enough deal of the fact that Jaylen is shooting 84% from the FT line this season. That's HUGE. Add in that he didn't turn the ball over and this was easily one of Jaylen's best performances of the season.

Teams and fanbases pray that one day they can find a player like Jaylen. Please do not take what he is doing for granted. 

The best part? Listen to this man after the game. What a leader. 

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- As we know, the beauty of the Boston Celtics isn't the fact that they have one of Jaylen or Jayson. It's the fact that they have both

They're the best duo in the NBA. Full stop. I'm sure there will be some out there that still try and debate that claim, but that's just their insecurity talking. This is what they do every single time they step on the floor, regardless of opponent. Take this game for example. I think most would agree that Tatum didn't really have his best game. He started off pretty slow offensively, had all types of turnover issues, and then the game ends and you look down and he has 29/11/1 on 10-19 (3-6) shooting. That would be an incredible night for almost anyone else in the league, and for Tatum it was probably described as an "off night".

Do you know how insane that is? 

When it came time to put the nail in this game, Tatum woke up. He went 4-6 for 12 points in the fourth quarter (Celts were up just 6), and it was the plays he made defensively down the stretch that ultimately sealed this win. I'll take that shit every day of the week and twice on Sundays. What I love about this version of Tatum is that even when his shot wasn't falling, he's still extremely engaged defensively. A younger Tatum would let that poor shooting mess with his head. Now? He's still finding ways to impact the game untl his shot comes around, then it does and the Celts become an unbeatable force. It's really that simple.

- The Celts probably played their best transition defense of the season in this game. They dominated fastbreak points 26-13, and it came from everyone on the roster. I mean, even Sam Hauser was pulling off LeBron-esq blocks!

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Jaylen had a couple as well and that's the type of shit you need to do on the road. You can't quit on plays and just give up points when you fuck up. You get your ass back and make a play. Once one guy does it, it becomes contagious and that's what happened in this game. The Celts were fantastic at contesting these plays without fouling and look at what a difference it made in the outcome.

- Last night was only the 2nd time all year the Celts kept a team under 100, and to only allow 42 points in the second half was key to this road win. Things looked a little dicey in that first quarter, but then to only allow 23, 19, and 23 points the rest of the way was very encouraging considering Smart and Rob didn't play. The Nets only shot 40/34% and really only KD gave them issues but that's whatever. He's KD. Chances are he's going to get what he wants offensively.

The fact that they held Kyrie to just 7-21 shooting was huge, and outside of some Joe Harris transition threes there really wasn't another Nets player you had to worry about offensively. Again, this is a roster issue. Simmons isn't going to scare you offensively, that's not his game. So if Kyrie is being defended well, who on this team steps up to help KD with the scoring load?

- Shoutout to this team for not collapsing. It felt a little like the MIA game where the team was turning it over a shit ton, their lead got to around 12-13 at the half and then only 6 entering the 4th. Things got to a 2 point game with about 7 minutes left, only for the Celts to immediately respond and get it up to 9 just 90 seconds later. This was right around when Tatum woke up and carried them over the finish line.

Tough night for those who spent all night after the MIA game talking about how Tatum doesn't come up clutch or perform well in clutch minutes. Almost like they were overreacting!

- I think we're seeing why Joe decides to let this team play through their struggles. Down 2-11 in the first two minutes, Joe didn't call a timeout and challenged his guys to play through it. They responded with a 15-0 run and that was pretty much it. The Celts never trailed again

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Mazzulla Ball baby. Love and Trust.

- He only shot 4-10, but I do not give a shit about that. I thought Malcolm Brogdon filled his role to near perfection in this game, which was a much better showing than we got against MIA. A nice little 13/8/8 in his 32 minutes, Brogdon was really the only one who got the ball moving. He had some big moment buckets late by either attacking the paint or knocking down his open threes, and he finished a team best +16. 

On a night where they needed someone to step up and provide an offensive spark until Tatum figured his shit out, Brogdon was more than willing and that just goes to show the beauty of how this roster is constructed. Derrick was having an off night shooting the ball, Horford couldn't make shit, and then here comes Malcolm to save the day. Do you know he now leads the NBA in three point shooting? Who saw that shit coming?

The Bad

- I don't think it's a stretch to say as a whole, this was probably one of the worst offensive showings of the season. As a team they shot 43/39%, they finished with only 18 assists on 35 FGM, they turned it over 15 times, and there really was no flow offensively, We saw the Celts fall back into bad iso habits WAY too often and as a result the offense stalled. A team that averages a 120 Ortg managed a brutal 105.1 in this game and I'd say the eye test matched. Things just felt…sticky. The ball stuck way too much for my liking and it's no surprise that with that style came a big uptick in TOs, especially from guys like Tatum.

I thought Joe had a pretty good comment about this in his postgame

Their spacing was all kinds of fucked up in this game. One thing we know is that when either Tatum or Brown have the ball, teams aren't going to only blitz them, they are going to collapse the paint every time they put the ball on the floor. How many times do we see Tatum or Brown start a drive, only to see guys from either side collapse and try and reach/poke the ball away? We usually get mad at the player for the turnover, but there's a coaching aspect to this as well.

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Joe needs to find a way to create situations where his best players have the space to operate. The book is sort of out in that regard when it comes to trying to defend the Jays. So whether that's clearing out one side or finding ways to get Tatum/Brown going downhill before defenses can react is an adjustment Joe is going to have to make. I can guarantee you the Raptors are going to do the same shit tonight with their length.

- 15 TOs turned into 18 points. The formula isn't that complicated. When this team is careless with the ball, they allow teams to hang around. When they take care of the basketball, no team can match their talent. So…..just take care of the ball. What is this, 35 TOs in 2 games or some shit? That is no way to play.

- A rough 6-23 for Al/White/Hauser/Pritchard/ With Al and Derrick, 9 of their 12 FGA were 3PA and they only made 1 shot all night. Getting a combined 15 points from all those guys isn't exactly what I would call good, and usually that sinks you. Thankfully, Tatum and Brown exist but outside of the stars, this was kind of a rough night.

The Ugly

- We all know 9 TOs is way too many for a single player to have. Even Tatum knows

The ones where he's aggressive and maybe the ball comes loose, I can live with those. The ones where Tatum somehow can't dribble or is throwing the ball out of bounds, those are the ones that annoy me. I get that he faces a ton of pressure and guys grab and reach and all that shit, but who cares. If you're an MVP type guy, you can't be turning it over like this. It was an issue against MIA too. More often than not you're going to lose if your best player has 9 TOs, so I'd like to see that number cut by more than half. Tatum's usage is too high for him to be this careless with the basketball.

- I'm not sure that 3rd quarter was actually basketball. I don't know what it was, but it was not the sport I love. The Celts scored 13 points, shot 25/16%, and had more TOs (6) than FGM (4). They had 4 points in half a quarter! Thankfully they held BKN to only 19 points but I don't care about the Nets. I think their first 4 or 5 possessions were all TOs or some shit. Did Joe not go with the motivational speech at halftime? That shit was GROSS.

So here we go. A massive 6 game road trip starts 1-0 with a B2B tonight in Toronto before the Celts head out West. It was great to see them immediately stop the bleeding from the MIA loss, so now it's about building momentum before a very challenging 4 games on the West Coast. I think most of us are hoping for 4-2 or better when it's all said and done, and if that requires winning ugly then so be it. 

Love and Trust.