The Boston Celtics were cruising Friday night before it all fell apart.
In a stunning turn of events, the Brooklyn Nets roared back from a 28-point first-half deficit to win 115-105 at Boston’s TD Garden.
After going down 51-23, the Nets outscored the Celtics 92-54 the remainder of the game. The comeback was the largest in the NBA this season and tied for the largest in Nets’ history.
The Nets began their comeback with 7:11 to go in the second quarter. They closed the half on a 32-13 run, capped off by a nifty buzzer-beating play that cut the deficit to single digits, 64-55, at halftime. The Nets outscored the Celtics 40-27 in the second quarter and kept it up in the second half – they outscored Boston 34-20 in the third quarter and 26-21 in the fourth.
Boos rained down as the Celtics called timeout after the Nets went up 100-88. Brooklyn pushed its lead to as many as 16 points later in the fourth.
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“They beat us in every analytical category possible,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “If we don’t commit to the margins, no matter how hard we play, we’re not going to win.”
Mikal Bridges, whom the Nets acquired from the Phoenix Suns in the Kevin Durant trade, led the way with a game-high 38 points. Boston’s Jaylen Brown had a team-high 35.
The Celtics committed 19 turnovers and struggled from 3, hitting just nine of their 30 attempts (30%). All-Star Jayson Tatum, who turned 25 on Friday, especially struggled from deep, going 0-for-8.
“I think we kind of realized over a couple of games that offense wasn’t really our problem,” Bridges said. “I feel like our offense is pretty good. But our defense, we got stops and stayed together possession-by-possession. … We just kept and stayed together.”
