The Boston Celtics are a little bit of a mess, and they have less than a week to right the ship before they face the opponent who just beat them 113-89 in Friday’s closing preseason contest.
That team would of course be the Brooklyn Nets, who looked every bit a top-three seed in the East with a healthy Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving back on their roster. On the other end of the court, while the bench continued to underperform as it had in 2019-20, it was the starters who were a considerable part of the problem. Jayson Tatum went 5-for-17 from the floor, Marcus Smart 3-of-11 and Jaylen Brown 1-of-7 from beyond the arc.
WATCH: Brooklyn Nets-Boston Celtics 113-89 preseason video recap 12/18 https://t.co/lQ5YuKVnja via @thecelticswire
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) December 19, 2020
It’s fair to say those numbers will improve with some rust shaken off, but with the Milwaukee Bucks set to play Boston in their season opener and a rematch with the Nets on Christmas Day, there may not be enough time to do it before it impacts the team’s standings.
Defensive effort was another significant issue, and while it may have been an exhibition game, the frequent lapses from starters and bench alike did little to alleviate creeping concern from Tuesday’s preseason opener loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
There were some bright spots for the bench at least, even if it didn’t see linear growth for the rookies; Aaron Nesmith looked solid with 9 points and 5 rebounds, and center Robert Williams III looked a little less lost than he did in his last game, scoring 8 points, 4 boards and 3 blocks.
The sky’s the limit for Payton Pritchard, according to Marcus Smart https://t.co/2c9HgtNVW5
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) December 19, 2020
Tremont Waters was able to run the point effectively against Brooklyn’s second unit, scoring 7 points and 5 assists, hitting a solid 3-of-5 shot from the field, but almost everyone else on the team had issues shooting somewhere in their game throughout the night.
After the game, Jaylen Brown asked us to give the Nets some credit because, “they were good,” is absolutely the right take. But in the same breath Brown acknowledged that the team has a lot of room for improvement, too.
As he said, “don’t count out the Celtics,” as they “have a lot of fight.” But, they’re going to need a lot more than fight to be the team they hope to this coming season.
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