Celtics bring "road warrior" Nets back to Earth

The New Jersey Nets went to Boston Friday night to try to extend their current 3 game road win streak to 4 games and were rudely told NO. The Celtics came out hot from the start with Paul Pierce going 4 for 5 in the first quarter as the Nets relied on Deron Williams penetrating and creating open shots for others that mostly went unanswered as the Nets could not hit the ocean. Williams held them together through the first quarter with 10 points and the Celtics jumped out to a 29-20 lead to end the quarter after more horrendous decisions from Petro that led to Celtics fast break dunks. Farmar returned from his groin injury and Brook Lopez continued his strong play in the first. The second quarter began and it was more of the same only worse. Morrow came up empty on multiple wide open looks from all over the floor and the rookie (MarShon) seemed a bit too intent on facilitating then playing his usual aggressive offensive game. The Celtics went into a simple press and the Nets seemed lost on how to break the press and the Celtics then went on an 18-1 after the Nets cut it to 34-30.  The lead grew as large as 21 points and the Celtics lead 58-40 at the half as the Nets went 1-10 from three-point range with 11 turnovers.

2012 Nets Season

Like Groundhog Day, the second half started the same as the first only this time it was Kevin Garnett that came out and hit his first four jumpers and not Pierce but it had the same effect on the game.  Kris Humphries was missing in action most of the night and his energy and aggressiveness on the boards was sorely missed. The Nets went zone to try to change things up but bad shots and bad luck lead to more fast break points for the Celtics and the lead grew to 25. MarShon Brooks came out in the third with a different mind-set and hit a few jumpers with his usual up and under flair and then hit a spot up three pointer along with a nice lob to the Gerald Green. Green had three dunks in four trips down as Brooks hit him with a second lob and a nice defensive play by Green on Pierce led to another Green throw down.  This was the start of a run late in the third quarter but then all chances of a comeback were extinguished when Petro entered the game and promptly threw up a quick 18 for jumper which clanged out and compounded it by playing horrid defense and dropping easy rebounds.  The 4th quarter started with the Nets down 87-71 and on cue Paul Pierce decided to improve his field goal percentage again and hit a few more jumpers as Deron Williams seemed out of the flow of the game after taking a hard shot to the face from Rondo near the end of the first half. Williams was not able to penetrate the lane and seemed content on moving the ball to open shooters. The lead was down to 13 when Morrow had yet another chance to make this a game but came up short with another hard miss from three. This was a theme of the night as Morrow was so “out of the game” on both ends after giving up numerous back door and routine switches that he decided to get rid of the headband and try something new.  He hit a few jumpers at the end of garbage time to make his numbers look better but the Nets definitely need the bench and the three-point shooters to come up big for them to win this year. The final was 107-94 and the score does not indicate the way the game went as the Nets play was “unacceptable” after a big road win in Dallas and they were brought right back down to Earth.

The Nets visit the Charlotte Bobcats on Sunday night at 6pm so lets hope they come with more energy and don’t get beaten by a team that has 4 wins all season.  To be determined………

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