Stunning collapse leads to boos
C's blow 28-point first-half lead
After the final buzzer sounded, when their disastrous, stunning collapse was over, the Celtics locker room was mostly quiet. There wasn’t much to say.
There wasn’t much of a hint of frustration. There wasn’t much anger, either.
“Everything we did out there kind of spoke for itself,” Jaylen Brown said.
The Celtics have looked the part of a serious championship contender for most of this season, and on Friday night, they continued to do so in another dominant first quarter against the Nets.
But then — for most of the next three quarters — the Celtics reverted to the worst version of themselves.
A disaster unfolded at TD Garden, and the Celtics were simply unable to stop it. They led by 28 in the first half, only to watch it slip away in embarrassing fashion. They got too comfortable, they got too careless, and as it concluded, boos followed them to the locker room after they were handed a humbling and inexcusable 115-105 loss to the Nets.
The Celtics committed 19 turnovers, shot just 9-for-30 from 3-point range. And once the Nets started rolling after getting blown out midway through the second quarter, the C’s never regained themselves.
“That was the first time we couldn’t get it back,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I thought throughout the year, we’ve done a good job of maintaining our composure and our poise for the majority of the season. I think in moments like that, when the other team starts to play well and changes their mindset, we just have to kind of adjust to your environment. It’s hard. …
“We definitely have a respect for the opponent because we were up 28. So I think we definitely respected them. I don’t think most guys realize the potency of runs in the NBA in the first half because of the pace and the 3-point shot. And so, I think our team definitely respects other teams. Like I said, I think this is a one-off, it’s something that’s happened very, very rarely.”
Brown scored 35 points and Jayson Tatum added 22 as the Celtics were humiliated. The embarrassing loss snapped a streak of 10 consecutive wins over the Nets, who were led by Mikal Bridges’ 38 points and 10 rebounds and didn’t resemble the squad that was blown out here in Boston last month.
The Celtics had delivered deja vu on the Nets — even their rebranded version without Kyrie Irving or Kevin Durant — in the first quarter. A month ago, the C’s torched the Nets by outsourcing them 46-16 in the first period and never looked back in a wire-towire rout. It wasn’t as bad on Friday but the Celtics dug the Nets — who couldn’t hit the Charles River with a shot — a huge hole with a 37-15 first.
Brown looked as if he was toying with defenders — on one play, an up-fake led to a tough three-point play — as he got anything he wanted offensively. The Celtics led by 28 midway through the second quarter. But at some point, maybe the Celtics got overconfident. They were still up 22 late in the second when the starting lineup re-entered the game and set the stage for an inexplicably poor end to the first half.
The Celtics got relaxed, lackadaisical and seemed to lose their focus against a Nets team they’ve dominated for the better part of the last year. The Nets went on a 21-8 run to end the second quarter, with the final sequence symbolizing a disastrous meltdown in progress for the Celtics. After Brown threw an inbounds pass intended for Tatum into the backcourt and out of bounds, Dorian FinneySmith’s buzzer-beating alley-oop cut the Celtics’ lead to nine at halftime.
The Nets were only getting started on their comeback. Bridges drilled a stepback 3-pointer on the first play of the second half to set off a disastrous stretch for the Celtics. Marcus Smart, who had zero fouls at halftime, picked up four of them in the first 3:43 of the second half, and when he subbed out, picked up a technical foul from the bench. By then, the Nets cut the deficit to one. They tied the game at 70 on Cam Johnson’s 3-pointer and took their first lead of the game when he made two free throws shortly after.
Robert Williams, during that sequence, left the game with left hamstring tightness. As they took a 76-72 lead, the Nets had executed a 53-21 turnaround in a stunning turnaround. Desperate for a spark, Mazzulla turned to Payton Pritchard — who hadn’t played since Feb. 14 — to enter the game. But nothing worked. Boos rained down at TD Garden when the Celtics failed to box out Bridges on a putback layup that put Brooklyn up six.
The Nets’ onslaught just continued. Finney-Smith drilled a 3 to put them up nine late in the third and they extended their lead to 13 when Bridges made a 3 with 7:22 to go in the fourth.
“Just gotta be mature and respond,” Brown said of how they can learn from this loss. “We can’t take the game for granted. I know we were up big, but we gotta play each possession like it’s a tie game or we’re down. We let them get going, let them get some confidence and at that moment, when the momentum shifted, they became hard to stop.”