The Celtics held off a fast-paced Brooklyn Nets team 118-110 thanks to Jayson Tatum’s 41 points as Boston limited the impact of Ben Simmons.
While Simmons had some classy touches early on, Boston did well to deprive Brooklyn of opportunities to operate its attack in transition, forcing the Australian to play in the half court where he struggled, passing 1 of 5 from the field for five points.
Simmons had eight assists and six rebounds, however, but the Nets as a whole could only score eight fast break points.
Nets coach Jacque Vaughn later confirmed after the game that Simmons (injury management) would not play against the Celtics on Thursday in Boston for the second day of a back-to-back.
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Simmons was effective in driving the offense early Tuesday, finding Mikal Bridges for a 3-pointer within six seconds of the opening buzzer.
Simmons then threaded the needle with a brilliant bounce pass to Dorian Finney-Smith, scoring his third assist in just two minutes after also connecting with Cam Thomas for a floated jump shot on the previous possession.
At that point in the game, the Nets had a 7-6 lead, but it was short-lived as Boston went on a 9-3 run, consistently targeting Cam Thomas on defense and successfully setting him up early.
Meanwhile, the Celtics were also making a concerted effort to play Simmons and Nic Claxton as Brooklyn’s spacing suffered due to the two sharing the court.
Simmons checked midway through the first quarter after back-to-back airballs, with the Nets trailing 16-11 at that point.
A strong stretch from the Brooklyn bench, including two 3-pointers in the span of 30 seconds from new addition Dennis Schroder, helped keep the Nets in touch with the Celtics.
Boston took a 36-30 lead in the second quarter thanks to 16 points from Jayson Tatum, who at one point made three straight triples and also had two assists and rebounds.
Tatum didn’t slow down in the second quarter, adding 15 more points as he and Jaylen Brown largely got what they wanted by targeting Brooklyn’s undersized guards.
Simmons, meanwhile, once he entered the game, began to be intentionally fouled by Boston late in the quarter and had mixed success from the free throw line, making two of his four shots.
The Celtics immediately went after Claxton when Simmons headed to the bench after committing a few cheap fouls of his own.
Boston dominated down the stretch to go on an 11-0 run at one point, taking a 72-57 halftime lead thanks to Tatum’s 31 points.
The Celtics led by 23 points in the third quarter and looked poised for a comfortable victory, but the Nets refused to go away, eventually making it 99-93 with 7:55 on the clock in the fourth.
Boston quickly responded with a 3-pointer from Derrick White and the Celtics were able to close out the game, but not as dominantly as they might have hoped, winning 118-110.
Having been targeted early on the defensive end, Thomas responded well for the Nets to finish with 26 points while Bridges led the Nets with 27.
GIDDEY STRONG AS POWER THUNDER STAR DUO TO VICTORY
Elsewhere, Josh Giddey bounced back with a strong performance against the Orlando Magic as the Oklahoma City Thunder improved to 37-17 with a 127-113 win.
Giddey had some good moments on the offensive end early in Tuesday’s game, finishing in the paint for four points with two rebounds and an assist.
That then became six points as Giddey, who was once again given ample time and space by the Magic defense to think beyond the arc, drained a long two-pointer.
The Magic led by 11 points in the first quarter with Jalen Suggs going 3-for-3 early, but the bench helped keep the Thunder in it, outscoring Orlando 9-0 in the first quarter.
That meant OKC entered the second trailing only 32-31 after a strong opener from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had four points, three assists, a steal and a block.
Giddey picked up where he left off when the Australian got back into the game with seven minutes left in the second quarter, quickly adding four more points to help Oklahoma City take a 49-41 lead.
The 21-year-old finished well at the rim, including a transition floater, serving as a reminder of what he’s capable of with a 6-foot-8 frame even if outside shooting remains a weakness.
This was especially important given that Orlando did a good job of containing Gilgeous-Alexander as a scorer in the first half, limiting him to just eight points and one trip to the free throw line.
Chet Holmgren, meanwhile, had two points, with Jalen Williams leading the Thunder with 14 points while Giddey had 10 points, three rebounds and two assists at halftime.
Yet despite Gilgeous-Alexander’s quiet first half, the Thunder managed to take a 60-52 halftime lead.
Giddey went scoreless in the third quarter, but that was more a product of Gilgeous-Alexander starting to catch fire, scoring 15 points in the period as OKC took a 92-82 lead into the fourth.
In the fourth quarter, it was Williams’ turn to take over, scoring the Thunder’s first 10 points as the visitors extended their margin to 102-86.
Giddey, meanwhile, then recorded back-to-back assists – including a nice behind-the-back pass to an open Cason Wallace, as two straight 3-pointers made it a 21-point game.
Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams simply couldn’t be stopped from that point on, finishing with 32 and 33 points, respectively.
This gave the pair back-to-back 30-point games, scoring 38 and 32 respectively in the 127-113 win over the Kings earlier in the week.
Giddey, meanwhile, finished with 10 points, five rebounds and as many assists in a handy performance from the Australian.
