Celtics booed off the court by their fans in a blown loss at home to Nets

The Boston Celtics had a 28-point lead halfway through the second quarter of Friday’s matchup against the Brooklyn Nets. Despite holding the largest lead of the game, Boston eventually lost this game 105-115 at the TD Garden.

The Celtics went into halftime up 55-64. The Nets responded by scoring 15-points after the break to tie the game at 70. Brooklyn took the lead at the 6:11 mark of the third quarter, a lead they held for the remainder of the game. 

Brooklyn chipped at Boston’s 28-point lead heading into halftime by going on a 32-13 run over the final seven minutes of the half, cutting the Celtics lead to only nine points and showed zero signs of slowing down heading into the second half by producing a 16-point lead.

The Celtics shot poorly from distance, finishing the night making only 9-of-30 from deep. The Nets, on the other hand, didn’t shoot great either, finishing the night 14-of-44 from 3-point range. 

Jayson Tatum finished with 22-points, but struggled from behind the arc in his birthday game, shooting 0-for-8 on his 3-pointers. He added a game-high 13 rebounds in the loss.

Jaylen Brown carried the Celtics, finishing the night with 35-points on 15-of-27 shooting from the floor and made three 3-pointers in addition to his four rebounds and five assists.

Derrick White led the second unit while Malcolm Brogdon was out with an ankle injury. He scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting, missing all four of his 3-point attempts.

Without Brogdon, who leads the league in 3-point percentage, the Celtics lacked a producer and it showed on Friday. 

Al Horford took only four shots on Friday night after he connected on 14 3-pointers over his last three games.

Grant Williams played 17 significant minutes and took one shot. That just can’t happen. He’s in there to space the floor, take some corner shots, and to be aggressive when he’s on the court. We didn’t see that from him in this game after being handed a DNPCD in Boston’s last game.

Rob Williams left the game with a hamstring tightness injury. That wasn’t great to see after halftime.

The Celtics have a lot to figure out in a short time, as they’re next games are a back-to-back against the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday and Monday.

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Photo Credit: Michael Dwyer, AP