Brooklyn Nets steamrolled by Boston Celtics, lose 139-114

This game was nothing more than a ice-cold reminder that the Brooklyn Nets have a long, long way to go.

The Brooklyn Nets returned from their three-game road trip on Wednesday night, facing the Boston Celtics.

The Nets had lost to Boston on said road trip, but took the defending champs to overtime, a much better showing than the last time they took the Amtrak up to Beantown, a 50-point loss that got Jacque Vaughn dismissed.

But on Wednesday night at the Barclays Center, Boston was adding a wing-scorer while the Nets were losing a wing-stopper. Jaylen Brown, who missed the last matchup with a hip ailment, was available, while hosts were missing Dorian Finney-Smith. (Jordi Fernández’s team was also down Ben Simmons; more on that below.)

One thing going for the Nets, though, was Al Horford’s absence and Boston’s lack of rest; Jayson Tatum & Co. lost a tight one to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night, and it showed early. They missed six of their first seven threes and made some inexcusable turnovers, getting out-hustled by the Nets to start the game.

On the flip, Ziaire Williams brought the hustle for Brooklyn. He was the team’s best player in the first half, scoring 16 points with four boards, living at the line and being an irritant on defense…

Postgame, he credited his new environment for his sturdy play, saying his new team is “Bringing that dawg out of me. Man, that’s the realest way I could put it, picking up full-court, being scrappy, just coaching me.”

On the back of Williams’ energy, the Nets took a 13-point lead in the first quarter.

Then, they watched it wither away, hand-fighting with the Celtics in a competitive second quarter. But a Payton Pritchard bucket late in the half gave Boston a 60-58 lead with two minutes left in the half, and it marked the final lead change…of the game.

After Bostons’ poor start from deep, they made 13 of their next 21 long-balls, building a 18-point lead by the middle of the third quarter. Tatum and Brown started pouring in buckets from all over the court, finishing with 36 and 24 points, respectively.

Said Williams: “Even when [Boston] were up, they were still just applying pressure, still attacking the paint, They weren’t backing down, and kind of just punched us in the mouth.”

Brooklyn’s 1-on-1 defense on the two Boston stars was largely fine. Even down Dorian Finney-Smith, Williams and Cam Johnson held their own when matched up in isolation…

But Boston did what they do, creating and maintaining advantages for Brown and Tatum to play off, and those two — alternate-universe Nets — ate quite well.

The history of the infamous Billy King Debacle didn’t hang over the Barclays Center on Wednesday night; both the Celtics and the Nets have driven by too many forks in their respective roads to keep re-visiting that one; what instead hung over the Nets was malaise, something they’d only previously experienced once this season, in their loss to the Detroit Pistons.

But Wednesday’s malaise was just a little different. Tatum got ‘M-V-P’ chants at the free-throw line, and the half-green crowd cheered louder and louder with each fadeaway he made in the second half. It was a movie we’ve seen before, and it dropped the Nets into an uphill emotional battle, in addition to the uphill talent battle…

There’s not much the Brooklyn Nets can do about this, and that’s fine. It’s a condition of their existence, and once they field a winner, the calculus changes. We saw proof of concept as recently as three years ago.

Brooklyn never replicated the fire of Ziaire Williams’ first-quarter efforts, but they didn’t wilt either. Until a bench-heavy lineup that included Tyrese Martin — playing his first non-garbage-time minutes of the season — started the fourth quarter, Brooklyn’s offense flowed smoothly.

They’d shoot 51/44/83 in total, effective from just about everywhere on the court. Seven players made multiple threes, including Noah Clowney and Ziaire Williams, who led Brooklyn with 23 points…

Dennis Schröder and Cam Thomas didn’t turn in explosive performances, but weren’t close to disappointing either: 17/3/3 for Thomas on 5-of-11 shooting, 16/4/3 for Schröder on 6-of-10 shooting, combining for only three turnovers.

The problem was on the other end; the Celtics were playing scrimmage-offense out there. It may not have been easy, but — actually, it was probably just easy. The stars went off, and Luke Kornet caught three alley-oop dunks. Neemias Queta didn’t miss a shot, while Pritchard and Sam Hauser combined for nine threes. Boston grabbed nine more offensive rebounds than the Nets, and finished the game shooting 50-of-92, including a preposterous 22-of-45 from deep.

Jordi Fernández did not mince words following the defeat: “You can never, ever, ever, ever quit, or look defeated … We have to continue to do things the right way. If the other team is better than you, you’ve got to respect it; but this is flashes of not doing the right things. It’s not who we want to be.”

At their best, this is what the Boston Celtics do. The Brooklyn Nets were not so much an opponent on Wednesday night, but a victim.

Final Score: Boston Celtics 139, Brooklyn Nets 114

Injury Report

As previously mentioned, Dorian Finney-Smith and Ben Simmons each missed Wednesday’s game with lower-leg ailments. For Finney-Smith, it was the same left ankle sprain that kept him out of Monday’s game in New Orleans.

“Dorian is just an ankle sprain and it’s not [serious],” said Fernández pregame. “I just want him to 200% and be ready to go, and that’s the reason why he’s not playing. And I want him — whenever he’s ready — to give me everything.”

As for Simmons, he was out with left calf tightness, two days after saying he cramped up during Brooklyn’s victory over the Pelicans. Unsurprisingly, the Nets are looking further into that claim. Said Fernández: “Ben is just a minor calf [ailement]. Did an MRI, we don’t have the results yet, but it’s just a day-to-day thing for now.”

We shall see.

Badalona’s favorite son

In happier news, Jordi Fernández recently received the Venus de Badalona, an award commemorating him as a “favorite son” of his hometown, Badalona…

Fernández became the fifth-ever Badalonian to receive the honor, represented by a copy of the actual Venus de Badalona, a small Roman-era marble statue dated to the first century AD, currently preserved in The Badalona Museum.

The city’s mayor, Xavier García Albiol, traveled to New York City to present Fernández with the award, an experience the head coach spoke about pregame.

“To get this award just means the world to me. Just to represent my city, and not just for me, but also my parents. They still live in Badalona, my friends and being the basketball town that it is … it’s pretty cool. And everything I can do to represent, and now that I’m honored this way by my city, it means a lot to me.”

Next Up

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The Brooklyn Nets look to rebound against the New York Knicks on Friday night, their first of two consecutive games at Madison Square Garden. This one, though, will be Brooklyn’s first In-Season Tournament Group Stage game; tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.