The Brooklyn Nets hosted the Boston Celtics on Sunday and lost 103-92. This was the first of four games that the teams will play between now and March as Boston leads the regular-season series 1-0.
Kevin Durant had 31 points, seven rebounds, and five assists for the Nets while Kyrie Irving had 18 points and eight rebounds. Joe Harris scored 13 points and had six rebounds,
Jaylen Brown had 34 points, 10 rebounds, and four blocks for the Celtics while Jayson Tatum had 29 points, 11 rebounds, and four steals with nine turnovers. Malcolm Brogdon had 13 points and seven assists off the bench.
Boston was essentially in control of the game from the beginning. Every time Brooklyn made a run, Boston made a play or three to quell the Nets’ momentum and go up by six to eight points.
Durant was the offense for the Nets in this game and the Celtics have too good of a team defense for one person to beat them. The Nets looked fatigued with head coach coach Jacque Vaughn going only eight players deep in the rotation. The Nets lost this game because of poor ball-handling and poor transition defense.
Here are the Nets’ player grades for their loss to the Celtics: