I said in my preview of this game that a loss by the Nets in their season opener wouldn’t be the end of the world. By end of the world, I meant that Brooklyn’s season wouldn’t be done after just one less to a subpar team. I did mean, though, that if the Nets played poorly, it would be a bad sign.
Well, if watched any part of tonight’s game, you would have seen that the Nets were awful by any stretch of the term. They played absolutely no defense, allowing the Celtics to take wide open shots from three, mid-range and yep, even right at the hoop. They also committed a ton of stupid turnovers, 20 to be exact. Finally, they couldn’t make the few open shots the Celtics gave them. Not good.
Sure, Brook Lopez didn’t play tonight, due to his sore foot. Rajon Rondo, who was questionable for Boston, did suit up, and scored 13 points to go with 12 assists. These two developments certainly contributed to the Celtics outscoring the Nets 35-18 in the second quarter–when their huge lead was built–but they were by no means the only reasons.
From the tip, Boston controlled this game. In the first quarter, usual poor shooters–such as Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk–were drilled jumpers. Most times, hot first quarter shooting from a team that’s not particularly good at shooting proves to be unsustainable for the rest of the game. That wasn’t the case tonight.
A bunch of guys joined in on the act, taking advantage of Kevin Garnett and Mirza Teletovic’s many defensive breakdowns. All five Boston starters hit double figures in points as did three guys off the bench. The Celtics had 32 points by the end of the first frame and led 67-41 at the half. The game has already been decided by then.
A lot of shots and breaks went the Celtics’ way tonight, which did factor into the game. But the Nets didn’t put up much resistance, especially with the lack of hustle for loose balls and defensive rotations. This is surprising, considering new coach Lionel Hollins’ reputation as a defensive-minded coach as evidenced by his Memphis Grizzlies’ teams that prided themselves on that side of the ball.
Some other observations I had from the game: It was his NBA debut, but Bojan Bogdanovic was bad on defense. He scored seven points but was a sieve on defense, letting his man get open for easy buckets. He also missed a wide open three that could have swung momentum towards the Nets. I do expect him to get better soon, as the American game is much different than the European one…At least Deron Williams looked pretty good. He hit a bunch of jumpers and drove to the hoop on occasion but just didn’t get enough teammate help…Garnett’s shot was pretty good but his defense was not. On multiple occasions, he let Tyler Zeller (yep) just stand under the hoop, wide open, to receive a pass for an easy dunk. Same applies for Mason Plumlee, who didn’t do much good either. Olynyk and Sullinger enjoyed this same absence of defense and exploited it for points too….Mirza was four-of-six from three and scored 20 points in 23 minutes, although a lot of that was in garbage time. His offense is always there but he, like the rest of this team, really needs to pick up the defensive intensity and awareness…Joe Johnson somehow ended up with the Nets’ biggest minus rating of -30. He wasn’t too efficient but when he got the ball in the post, he was able to make scoring moves. Did miss a bunch of gimmies right at the basket though…The stats don’t really show it, but Jerome Jordan was flat out brutal in his six minutes of playing time. Looked really, really slow and didn’t appear to have the quickest hand-eye coordination in terms of grabbing rebounds. Took me awhile to realize this, but there’s a valid reason why he has never found a permanent home in the NBA.
Looking Ahead
The Nets are off until Saturday night, when they take on the Pistons–led by new coach Stan Van Gundy–in Detroit as Brooklyn looks for its first win of the season.
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