The Celtics had possibilities to take management in Brooklyn, however by no means discovered the consistency wanted to steal the sport from the Nets. Boston flashed moments of fine course of and stretches of robust protection, but the center quarters — and a late Michael Porter Jr. surge — proved an excessive amount of to beat. Nonetheless, there have been loads of notable performances and developments price digging into from an NBA Cup sport that they couldn’t work out. Listed here are 10 takeaways from the loss.
Shedding The Center Quarters
There’s no shying away from it, this one stings for Boston. That they had their possibilities, and momentum swung their means at instances, but it surely felt like they had been taking part in on their heels the entire evening.
After scoring simply 12 factors with 4 minutes left within the 1st quarter, they discovered some solutions and outscored the Nets 16-3 the remainder of the way in which. They adopted this up by dropping the 2nd and third quarter by a mixed whole of 70-49.
They’re gearing up for a troublesome stretch into the beginning of December, so dropping a sport to the two-win Nets is discouraging. Boston pulled away on the finish of the primary matchup, but it surely wasn’t precisely probably the most convincing sport both.
Of the brilliant spots on this one, Queta might have been the loudest. He struggled with Claxton at instances, however Boston wanted every little thing he may give them offensively to hold round.
His screening capacity and timing when slipping towards the rim had been a useful counter towards Brooklyn’s bigs defending on the degree of the display screen. His decision-making in these eventualities was distinctive as nicely.
With Claxton up excessive to hedge the decide and roll, Queta maintains his display screen lengthy sufficient for Simons to carry Claxton’s consideration. He rolls into open house and identifies a 4-on-3 benefit of their favor. You possibly can argue that the layup and the go are each good choices, but it surely’s the decisiveness that makes this work. Any hesitation from Queta and the benefit dries up rapidly.
In opposition to an aggressive protection, typically the best choice is to ghost a display screen, as Queta does right here. He catches Claxton off guard, rolls the place Simons can discover him and sprays it out to the nook.
One of these consciousness has marked a extra delicate enchancment that’s fueling Queta’s ascension.
Jaylen performed the whole 1st quarter, solely selecting up a single foul. He grabbed two extra within the 2nd quarter, and wound up together with his fifth on the six minute mark of the third. The Celtics challenged the decision, and had what felt like a strong case. Nonetheless, the refs deemed Terance Mann made marginal contact previous to Brown hitting him together with his off arm.
This was a big name as Brown was as much as 9 factors within the quarter, serving to to chop the Nets lead down to 5. Brooklyn closed the quarter on a 21-9 run to seize a 15 level lead after Brown went to the bench.
A Quiet Evening From Derrick White
In a sport the place Boston was starved for scoring, they wanted Derrick White to be able to reply the decision. He’s been in a a lot better rhythm recently, however he merely didn’t have it tonight.
White completed with six factors, his second lowest whole of the season. He shot 2/13 from the sphere, together with 1/7 from 3PT vary. His off evening was punctuated within the final 5 minutes with a missed level clean layup, and a nook three the caught the highest nook of the backboard.
Pritchard Light After The First
Payton got here on sturdy on this one, giving Boston life within the 1st quarter with three 3-pointers. It seemed like he was arrange for one more huge sport, however his scoring wasn’t there the remainder of the way in which. He managed simply 4 factors in quarters 2, 3 and 4.
The largest points stemmed from Brooklyn’s measurement, mobility and hole assist. Their lineups didn’t characteristic a single participant shorter than 6’5, and their bigs are agile. This allowed for only a few clear driving lanes, and restricted open seems to be with bigs up excessive to limit pull-up threes.
Pritchard merely couldn’t create towards all that size.
Simon’s Choosing Up The Scoring
When Brown sat as a result of foul hassle, Simons understood that they’d want him to step up. He scored 13 of his 23 factors throughout the ultimate two quarters. He managed to persistently beat his man off the dribble to get to the paint — one thing that the remainder of the group struggled with because of the Nets measurement and size.
This resulted in Simons taking part in 33 minutes, probably the most of his Celtics tenure to this point. He’s shot the ball successfully from three, but it surely’d be a pleasant enhance if Simons may proceed to take his drives deeper into the paint. He’s averaging simply 4.8 drives per sport, which is significantly decrease than every of his earlier 4 years in Portland.
He nonetheless seems to be like he’s looking for his place within the offense, and his minutes have dipped recently consequently. This might be a step in the appropriate path, as Mazzulla has rewarded gamers for performing when referred to as on.
Boston is taking a slower method with the rookie than most hoped for after his thrilling begin. He’s performed beneath 10 minutes per sport for a number of weeks now, and was a DNP-CD over the last two.
In opposition to Brooklyn, he began the 4th quarter, and completed as a +12 in simply 5 minutes. It wasn’t probably the most impactful minutes — he obtained beat off the dribble a pair instances — however you possibly can nonetheless see the motor he performs with, and the delight he has on the defensive finish.
It’s not going to be excellent on a regular basis for the 19-year-old, but it surely’s possessions like this that present what he’s able to. It’s noteworthy as nicely that Mazzulla referred to as on him because the group was looking for power and solutions.
Michael Porter Jr. Caught Fireplace
Porter Jr. is having a really good 12 months in Brooklyn. He’s rapidly emerged as their high scoring choice, however he’s distinctive in the truth that he doesn’t want the ball lengthy to do harm. Out of all gamers scoring 20+ factors per sport, Porter Jr. has the third lowest common seconds and dribbles per contact.
He turned it on within the 4th quarter, scoring 16 of his 33 factors. He does an important job utilizing screens to create openings, and if he will get his ft set, that shot goes up.
It turns into much more troublesome when you fall behind on the display screen as a result of he’s able to getting downhill, and has good chemistry with Claxton. It felt like each Celtics run ended with a closely contested Porter jumper.
Together with Michael Porter Jr., Nic Claxton was an issue all evening for the Celtics.
He’s a particularly helpful playmaker in dribble handoff actions, surveying the protection and making choices on when to maintain vs go it. It pulls the Celtics bigs removed from the paint and turns into fairly onerous to take care of if you’re accounting for his screening, passing, rolling and driving capacity without delay.
With Claxton within the sport, Brooklyn had a 130 offensive score and a 104.3 defensive score. Porter Jr. completed the sport, however Claxton obtained them off to a powerful begin and carried their power all through.
Jordan Walsh Retains Constructing
Jordan Walsh continues to stack nice performances. He’s rebounding, getting out in transition and discovering methods to assist on offense with out the ball. It’s issues that really feel routine like setting well timed off-ball screens, or relocating to open house, however he’s taking strides from even the beginning of this 12 months.
Regardless of the scoring explosion from Michael Porter Jr., Walsh did fairly nicely with that matchup. He spent loads of time face guarding him, and slithered round screens to disclaim simple seems to be.
It’s thrilling that Walsh seems to be wanting to tackle the problem of defending the opposite groups finest scorers, and the group feels assured about it too. Apart from Hugo, Walsh was the one different Celtic to complete the loss with a optimistic +/-.
