The Brooklyn Nets got about as close you can get to your first win of the season without actually getting it tonight. It was as encouraging and heartbreaking as it sounds.
Adding to the bittersweet sentiment, Brooklyn’s prized rookie was in the driver’s seat in this one’s most pivotal moments. He took us up, down, side to side, and deeper into the night than we originally anticipated. Here’s how we got there…
The Nets began tonight’s contest with a different starting five for the first time all season,
making a change at the point guard spot. No, I’m not talking about Mikel Brown Jr., not yet at least. Nolan Traoré made his first start of the season this evening against the Boston Celtics. The Frenchman looked confident and collected early on, with little-to-no hesitation attacking inside after coming around screens. He made his first four shots to put up nine first quarter points, and even left Jayson Tatum in the dust on one of his drives…
Brooklyn also got a lift from an energized Day’Ron Sharpe in the first, who’s active hands helped the Nets mount a stingy first quarter defense for a second straight game. It wasn’t another seven steal opening frame, but Boston possessions that didn’t involve Brooklyn deflections were difficult to come by.
Speaking of the Celtics, they played this one as the second half of a back-to-back, and didn’t do much to hide it. Boston, the best 3-point shooting team coming into tonight, began the contest just 2-15 from deep, more often than not missing short on their attempts.
Between that, Traoré‘s aggressiveness, and impactful contributions from Mo Wagner and Chaney Johnson, who combined for 23 points on 8-9 shooting in the first two period, Brooklyn controlled almost the entire first half. The only Celtic they couldn’t keep under wraps was Jayson Tatum. Shocker, right? He had a game high 16 points at half while dishing four assists, but the Celtics still trailed going into the break by five.
We’d hear more from him later, but the second half’s opening minutes were our last chance to applaud Traoré, who again came out on the attack. He had arguably his strongest take of his career only a few minutes into the third, seemingly setting the tone for another strong half…
Unfortunately, “seemingly” is the key word in that sentence though. Even in Boston, a city known its historical defiance legislation, the law of averages had to be obeyed. After their dreadful first half, the Celtics shot 8-14 from deep in the third, eventually retaking the lead with 1:07 to go in the period. Their second-to-last make of the period came off the hands of a blanketed Tatum from the top of the key.
As Boston made its run at the lead, the YES broadcast reported that Traoré asked for a sub, indicating that he had been cramping. Traoré did play a little over a minute in the fourth, but no further, and with little impact on the game. He finished with 15 points and three assists while shooting 6-9 from the field and 1-2 from deep.
Day’Ron Sharpe picking up his fourth foul around the time of Traoré’s exist didn’t help either. Brooklyn had found some defensive success earlier with Mo Wagner in drop coverage, although that largely just helped them take care of the defensive glass, and Boston had simply stopped missing. The Nets’ six turnovers in the period also didn’t help.
But in the fourth, the Juniors did. Michael Porter Jr. and Mikel Brown Jr. combined for 25 point in the final frame while shooting 7-11 from downtown. Some of them looked like the were heaved all the way from Dorchester.
But as the clock wound down, so did the game, and that favored the more experienced team. After MBJ throttled his team ahead with around two to play, Tatum drove in isolation tie things up. Then, on Brooklyn’s following possession after a Porter Jr. miss, Randle crashed late and into Derrick White to give Boston the free throws that would put them ahead until the game was nearly over.
This time, “nearly” is the key word. After a handful of missed shots between Porter Jr. and Randle to try to tie things, Brown Jr. snuck in a high lefty finish that did knot up the game, only for White to score and retake the lead next time down with 33 seconds to go. Soon after, it was time to play the foul game, and Boston didn’t seem to know the rules.
With three seconds to go, with Tatum at the line, and up four, Neemias Queta committed a loose ball foul on Randle. That put Randle at the line, needing to make one shot to pull within three, and then miss in the hope someone would coral the rebound and hit a game-tying three.
Off the miss, the ball instead found Mitchell Robinson’s hands, but that wasn’t so bad either. The career 50.7% free throw shooter missed both his shots at he stripe, giving the Nets the ball back and the chance to hit a game-tying three with three seconds to play. Mikel Brown Jr. did that…
And, to overtime we went. With a new lease on life, the Nets came out swinging in the extra period. Randle pitched in quick four points while Porter Jr. registered two blocked shots. Brown Jr. kept firing away as well, hitting one triple but missing three others.
Those blanks, however, left the door open for Boston. After Brown Jr.’s next miss, Randle, again going for an offensive rebound, fouled Paul George, who sank both the free throws from it and made it a one point game with under a minute to go.
After Brown Jr. and Tatum traded misses, the Nets still possessed a one point lead and the ball, but with 28 seconds to go. Brown Jr. drove, hoping to ice it, but missed. Day’Ron Sharpe was originally called for an offensive foul after bumping into Luka Garza while going for the rebound, but a Jordi Fernández challenge overturned it.
So, with a fresh shot clock, a lead, and only six seconds remaining, the Nets just needed to inbound the ball and run out the clock to win.
Well, the did one of those things. After getting the ball into Brown Jr., he quickly found himself under the basket, and put up a shot. He missed. The Celtics then got the ball, called a timeout, and let Tatum work for his own look in isolation. He did not miss…
After the game, Jordi Fernández said that Brooklyn switched onto Tatum when they weren’t supposed to, leading to a better look than what they had hoped to give up.
“We’re not supposed to switch there because we wanted to keep a bigger body on him,” Fernández said. “We did switch. He bumped. Keon tried to contest and he got a shot that he can make… We wanted to maintain the matchup on Tatum with Noah Clowney because he’s big… And then he bumped and then he shot over. And then Keon, who was on the ball, was supposed to track and contest that or help a little bit because we knew that most likely the shot was for him.”
For Tatum, it was one of his biggest moments since coming back from his torn achilles late last year. He finished with 40 points, eight assists, and five rebounds while shooting 10-20 from the field. He also made 18-22 free throws.
For Brown Jr., who finished with 17/5/5 while shooting 5-17 from the field and 4-11 from three, it was the epitome of a “rookie moment.”
For the Nets, though, it’s just another loss.
Final: Boston Celtics 125, Brooklyn Nets 124 (OT)
Injury Update
Egor Dëmin exited this one in the second quarter and was later ruled out with a right leg contusion. He appeared to bump into Paul George, which may have caused it. However, he brushed it off postgame, telling Erik Slater of ClutchPoints it’s nothing serious and he’d be good to go in a couple of days.
There’s been no official update on a potential injury for Traoré, but we’ll provide any updates as soon as we have them.
Next Up
Do you care about the NBA Cup yet? Either way, it’s coming to a TV or arena near you soon. Brooklyn will play its first Cup game of the year at home on Friday night against the Detroit Pistons. The Nets went 1-4 against Cade Cunningham and company last year. Brooklyn is 5-7 all-time in NBA Cup play. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EST.
