Not often did the Boston Celtics lose at house final season and coming off a nail-biting loss to Steve Kerr, Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, the web page wanted to show because the Brooklyn Nets arrived on the town for a Friday evening matchup at TD Backyard.
The Celtics did that efficiently by overcoming the feisty Nets, 108-104 in additional time, though it wasn’t simple by any stretch.
Boston’s absence of Jaylen Brown proved to be a serious problem as soon as once more, particularly within the early phases of setting the tone offensively. Nonetheless, Jayson Tatum led the best way alongside a number of well timed contributions to make sure Brooklyn would make its exit from TD Backyard with a visit to the loss column.
Listed here are three studs and three duds from Celtics-Nets:
STUDS
Jayson Tatum
One other evening, one other management efficiency from Tatum, who led all scorers with 33 factors on 11-of-25 capturing, together with 5-of-13 from three with 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Tatum’s spotlight second got here within the remaining seconds of regulation when he ferociously dunked over Brooklyn’s 6-foot-11 middle Nic Claxton to place the Celtics forward of the Nets, 94-92.
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In additional time, Tatum assisted Al Horford on a pivotal go-ahead 3-pointer after which sunk a clutch turn-around mid-range shot on the very subsequent possession.
Cam Thomas
Thomas has all the boldness on this planet to take as many pictures as essential to hold the Nets aggressive towards anybody within the league. That translated right into a team-high 31 factors for the 23-year-old, who shot 11-for-22 from the sector and 4-for-9 from 3-point vary with three rebounds, one help and one steal.
Jrue Vacation
It took some time for Vacation to get going, however the two-time champion got here via in a well timed vogue for the Celtics after they wanted it essentially the most. Vacation scored 17 factors on 8-of-14 capturing, together with a not-so-strong 0-for-4 from 3-point territory. However Vacation used his dimension when wanted to get to the rim and again defenders down whereas additionally racking up 5 assists in 38 complete minutes.
DUDS
Boston’s (sluggish) fist-quarter begin
The Celtics inadvertently handed the Nets a head begin, struggling severely to get any scoring momentum going. Brooklyn jumped forward with a game-opening 9-0 run that prompted Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla to name a fast and early timeout, which prolonged to a 12-0 run earlier than the Celtics lastly obtained on the scoreboard. On the brilliant facet, Boston’s poise in sticking with the antagonistic second noticed the Celtics flip a double-digit deficit into trailing by a possible 28-24 margin heading into the second body.
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Xavier Tillman Sr.
Mazzulla obtained inventive and gave Tillman the beginning, paired up with Al Horford in Boston’s frontcourt. It didn’t repay in any respect. The 25-year-old backup obtained off to a good slower begin than the Celtics did as a staff within the sport’s first three-plus minutes. Tillman airmailed a 3-point try from the nook and remained scoreless for the six minutes Mazzulla took him on the ground as Tillman completed 0-of-3 from the sector with no rebounds, assists or blocks, registering a minus-14 ranking.
A squandered evening within the workplace.
Ben Simmons
The downfall of the NBA’s No. 1 total decide from the 2016 draft continues to reside on. Simmons performed 21 minutes off Brooklyn’s bench, behind Dennis Schröder, and logged one other efficiency that — relative to Simmons’ drowning expectations — could possibly be thought of strong. Simmons scored eight factors on 4-of-5 capturing — no pictures from three, in fact — with 5 rebounds and 7 assists, but additionally dedicated three turnovers which led all of Brooklyn’s reserves and tied for a staff excessive in miscues.
