The Nets have no answers for the Celtics in their worst defensive game of the year
The Nets had their worst defensive game against the league’s best offense.
Brooklyn was outscored 148-111 by Boston before a crowd of 19,156 at TD Garden that cheered for the shutout.
It was the most points the Nets had allowed all season.
So did the 66.7 percent shooting they conceded.
As well as a 64.7 percent foul from deep, Boston is shooting 22-of-34 from three-point range.
The Nets watched Jaylen Brown put up 28 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.
And he watched the active voice, as he sailed untouched.
Brooklyn trailed 82-76 in the third quarter, and was outscored 66-35 the rest of the way.
Michael Porter Jr. he had 18 points, while rookie Danny Wolf dropped 16 off the bench.
But they were outshot 39-25, and didn’t put up any defensive resistance all night.
The Nets (15-43) have dropped seven in a row, which is the second worst in the league.
Brooklyn is still third in the lottery standings and moving up the ranks.
The Nets are just two games back of Sacramento – one in the win column – and ½ game behind second-place Indiana.
The Celtics have won 10 of their last twelve games and moved up to second place in the Eastern Conference despite star Jayson Tatum being out with a torn Achilles and waiting to make his season debut.
The thought of abandoning him in this group must frighten the whole of Mpumalanga.
Boston put on an offensive clinic. Nikola Vucevic has 28 points and 11 rebounds.
Brooklyn led briefly, going up 11-10 after Nolan Traore (seven assists) found Nic Claxton.
But the Nets coughed up a 16-4 run and never regained the lead.
Down 79-65 early in the third quarter, they quickly pulled eight unanswered in just a minute and a half, Traore’s short jumper pulling them within six.
It was still 82-76 after Noah Clowney’s 3-pointer but they watched Boston tear off a dozen.
Brown found Sam Hauser to make it 94-76, and the lane was open.
The deficit increased to 41 in the fourth quarter.
Former Celtics forward Josh Minott — who arrived at the trade deadline and ended up making his Brooklyn debut in Thursday’s loss — had a promising season back in Boston.
He had some nice passes that his new teammates couldn’t finish, and he knocked down Hugo Gonzalez’s fast break post off a feed from Terance Mann.
The Nets signed Grant Nelson to a 10-day contract, giving them six players.
The big man made his NBA debut with 9:41 to play, and scored his first points on a dunk with 6:35 left.
“It’s really a dream come true. So I’m going to do what I can, keep working and hopefully do whatever I can to help this team win more games,” Nelson told the YES Network.
“Obviously my body is getting better, I missed a lot of time in the beginning because of my knee. So, they did everything they could to keep putting me on the court. Then they gave me an opportunity like this.”
