The Celtics took advantage of the Nets’ visit to the TD Garden to send a message to the rest of the league. Joe Mazzulla’s box brought out the most overwhelming version of him against the New Yorkers, whom they knocked out with a devastating 139-96 that served to remind all and sundry why they are at the top of the table. Those from Massachusetts used the arrival of a direct rival to reactivate after some games of some relaxation, and wanted to make it clear that, until proven otherwise, they are the rival to beat this season.
The Nets, in which Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons are still low, could not present opposition even in the early stages of the match, which were already a gale from the locals. It took Boston just over three minutes to take their lead to double digits (14-3) and less than six to reach a 20-point difference (24-4), establishing what would be the keynote of the entire league right at the start. evening. Thanks to a first quarter that could hardly be improved in all aspects, the local team went to the bench, winning by an already overwhelming 46-16, which made it practically impossible to imagine that Jacque Vaughn’s men would return to the game.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, with 18 and 12 goals respectively in the first period, were in charge of setting the pace and leading their team in this frantic start. Based on triples (they combined for a 7/10 in this quarter) they brought out the colors of the visiting defense, which could not help but see the difference in the score grow, and both continued to be a nightmare throughout the night as they went up to 31 and 26 points. In general, practically all the local men had their moments of inspiration in attack, which made them go up to 26 triples made (2nd best mark in franchise history) to never stop increasing the gap.
The Nets could do little in the face of such a storm of basketball, who ended up taking out the white flag still with many minutes to go and who came to lose by up to 49 of a difference. Kyrie Irving and Cam Thomas, with 20 and 19 points, were the main scoring references for the New Yorkers, but not even they could overcome a local defense that reminded them of their most dominant version from last year and that prevented any hint of reaction.
“It is very clear that they are going for the ring, and they are not wasting time in the regular season,” said Irving, who gave credit to the Celtics. «Today it seems that we were simply a stone in his path, and we cannot be like that. We have to be one of the teams that come out to look them in the eye.”
Brooklyn has had serious problems to stand up to Boston recently, because, counting regular season games and playoffs, they have lost in the last 10 games against them. With last year’s playoff series still in their memory, Mazzulla’s men have been in charge of continuing to dominate each direct duel, making sure they arrive with a very favorable record for a hypothetical crossover in the next postseason.
(Cover photo: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
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