The Boston Celtics fell to the Kevin Durant-less Brooklyn Nets Friday night by a final score of 109-104. The Nets were in control for almost the entire duration until the Celtics mounted a 16 point comeback. But the C’s would fall short in the final seconds as Joe harris would hit a dagger three with six seconds left to secure the Victory for Brooklyn.
The Celtics were 6-7 straight out of the gate, but would cool down. Turnovers started to hunt the Celtics as it allowed the Nets to get easy scoring opportunities. as the Nets started to struggle defensively. At the end of the first, the Celtics were hanging on to a 25-21 lead.
The Celtics did not have an answer for the Nets high powered offense as Brooklyn started to find their groove. The Celtics struggled to guard the kick and drive Nets offense. Towards the end of the half the Celtics started to chip away at the Nets lead as that would stop the bleeding of an 18-3 nets run. The Celtics headed into the locker room down 60-51.
In the third quarter, the Celtics came out with that energy and effort that was missing in the first half. As the Celtics went on a 7-0 run cutting the Nets lead 67-60 with 9:03 remaining in the third quarter. Towards the end of the quarter, the Nets would not go away, as they mounted a 12-3 run to end the quarter heading into the fourth quarter with a 88-73 lead.
The Celtics struggles in this quarter was mounted by The Celtics turnovers, as they were a big issue in previous games for the C’s, and another factor for the Celtics was transition defense and second chance points.
In the fourth quarter, as it was a defensive battle for the first five minutes, the Nets continued to be in control in this quarter. Midway through the fourth quarter the nets had the upper hand as with 7:41 to go in the quarter the Nets had a 94-79 lead.
Late in the quarter the Celtics were quietly crawling back, as with 3:59 to play in the quarter a Payton Pritchard three point basket would cut the Celtics deficit to six at 98-92. Jayson Tatum would proceed to nail home a three to bring the Celtics within three. But Joe Harris would end the Celtics momentum knocking down a three point basket to push the Nets lead 101-95 with 3:09 to play.
In the final minutes, Jayson Tatum would miss a key foul shots down the line with 30 seconds remaining.The Celtics were forced to foul to stop the clock. that would then push the Nets lead to 105-99 with 26 seconds left. The Celtics would score five points for the reminder of the game, while the Nets scored four points for the reminder of the game.
The Celtics had three players score in double figures. Leading the way for the Celtics was Jayson Tatum with 38 points on 14-27 shooting, Marcus Smart scored 19 points on 7-17 shooting. Payton Pritchard off the bench provided a great spark, scoring 22 points on 8-12 shooting while knocking down six threes.
The Nets had three starters score in double figures. Leading the way for the Nets was Joe Harris with 20 points on 6-12 shooting, Kyrie Irving scored 15 points on 4-19 shooting. Jeff Green also added 19 points on 5-11 shooting.
The Celtics fall to 32-28 on the season, and will head to Charlotte and will face the Hornets on Sunday at 1PM EST.