Celtics guard Marcus Smart: Nets ‘force you to be almost perfect’

The Brooklyn Nets took it to the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day, sending a message to the rest of the NBA in the process.

Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Steve Nash may view Friday’s 123-95 Christmas Day win over Boston as just another game, but the rest of the league doesn’t — including the very team the Nets knocked off to improve to 2-0 to start 2020-21.

“They’re very capable of pouring it on,” Celtics head coach Brad Stevens said to reporters in Boston about the Nets, per NESN.com‘s Sean McGuire. “I think they could be the deepest team in the NBA and quite possibly — certainly in the conversation for the best.”

The Celtics made things interesting in the first half, and they tried to muster up a comeback in the fourth quarter — to which Nash’s response was to simply bring Durant and Irving back in the game, helping lead to the blowout finish.

“They force you to be almost perfect,” Celtics guard Marcus Smart said of the Nets following Boston’s loss, per Brian Robb of the Boston Sports Journal.

After seeing each other twice in as many weeks — one game being a preseason matchup — Brooklyn won’t see Boston again until after the 2021 NBA All-Star Break.

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