Rapid Recap: Celtics can’t stop Dinwiddie, lose encore in Brooklyn

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Rapid Recap is designed for the busiest of Celtics fans. Whether you can’t stay awake to read 10 paragraphs or your hangover is just too much, Rapid Recap tells the timeline of the game in only a minute or two.

Encores are tough! And the Boston Celtics weren’t prepared to play theirs against the same Brooklyn Nets team they smacked two nights ago, albeit this time at noon on Black Friday. (This is not historically a time in which good basketball is played by anyone.)

Though Jayson Tatum had an exceptional offensive game (26 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals), he was part of the Celtics’ team-wide lackadaisical defense. Kemba Walker having a ho-hum game (for him; 17-5-6 on wretched 32% shooting) certainly didn’t help, especially as his counterpart Spencer Dinwiddie was running absolutely wild en route to 32 points and a Brooklyn win, 107-102.

Boston looked hung over on both ends, surrendering 12 points in 2.5 minutes as the Nets fired relentlessly from beyond the arc:

Boston’s effort intensified after the first timeout and Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown, Brad Wanamaker and Javonte Green all had some nice moments. However, Brooklyn forced mucho turnovers and stayed well ahead on a steady diet of paint points and threes.

The team was frankly lucky to just be down eight (31-24) at Q1’s end. Celtics amped up their defense for Q2, holding the Nets to 3 points over more time than it took Brooklyn to score 12 in the first frame. But some issues persisted:

(He did bury a real nice pull-up three just a minute or two after that last turnover, but still.) Meanwhile, Kanter made the most of his minutes against DeAndre Jordan:

(That said, Kanter was basically useless if Jarrett Allen was playing.)

Things became more even-keeled between the two squads later in the quarter, but it still felt like the latter wanted it more in this first half. You could even say that they wanted it more than their fans…

Tatum decided to redeem himself, and did with a bunch of buckets in a hurry, including two consecutive deep triples. That, and increased effort overall, cut Brooklyn’s lead to 58-55 as the buzzer sounded to end the first half:

Honestly no one really did well during the frame’s initial stretch. Just a lot of odd stuff:

Brooklyn held onto—then considerably extended—their lead. Boston almost took it back with an 11-0 run, in part motivated by reserve energy from SMARF, GRANT, Wanamaker and Robert Williams.

Then Brooklyn punched back. It was pretty balanced for better and worse, with the home team ahead 87-81 at Q4’s start.

Brooklyn just kept canning triples, from sources sustainable (Dinwiddie, Harris) and surprising (Garrett Temple? Forreal?).

Also some odd lineup decisions:

https://twitter.com/SamSheehan/status/1200489625367851009?s=20

As the clock wound closer to the end, the Celtics had a lot of great defensive plays to draw close to a tie…and just enough boneheaded mistakes to seal their own fate.

https://twitter.com/spartymoshow/status/1200495920728694784?s=20

Box score

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