Nets (4-4) at Celtics (7-2) Game #10 11/8/24

[FLCeltsFan]

vs
Brooklyn Nets (4-4) at Boston Celtics (7-2)
Friday, Novmeber 8, 2024
7:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game [HASH]10, Home Game [HASH]4
TV: NBCSB, YES, NBA-LP
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, Serius XM, WFAN
TD Garden


Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
vs
Jrue Holiday vs Dennis Schroder

Shooting Guard
vs
Derrick White vs Cam Thomas

Small Forward
vs
Jayson Tatum vs Cam Johnson

Power Forward
vs
Al Horford vs Dorian Finney-Smith

Center
vs
Neemias Queta vs Nic Claxton

Celtics Reserves
Payton Pritchard
Luke Kornet
Jaden Springer
Xavier Tillman, Sr
Jordan Walsh
Sam Hauser

2 Way Players
JD Davison
Drew Peterson
Anton Watson

Injuries/Out
Kristaps Porzingis (ankle) out
Jaylen Brown (hip) out
Baylor Scheierman (GLeague) out
Luke Kornet (hamsting) doubtful

Head Coach
Joe Mazzulla

Nets Reserves
Keon Johnson
Shake Milton
Ben Simmons
Dariq Whitehead
Ziaire Williams
Jalen Wilson

2 Way Players
Jaylen Martin
Tyrese Martin
Cui Yongsi

Injuries/Out
Bojan Bogdanovic (foot) out
Day'Ron Sharpe (hamstring) out
Trendon Watford (hamstring) out
Noah Clowney (illness) questionable

Head Coach
Jordi Fernandez

Game Notes
The Celtics look to bounce back from their first home loss as they host the Brooklyn Nets. This is the first of 4 meetings between these two teams this season. They will face off again on November 13 in Brooklyn and then on March 15 in Brooklyn and finally, on March 18 in Boston. The Celtics won the series 4-0 last season. The Celtics are 141-73 overall all time against the Nets and they are 75-33 all time in Boston.

This is the first of 3 road games for the Nets and the first night of back to back games for them. They will play the Cavaliers on Saturday and then at the Pelicans. They will then return home to face the Celtics on Wednesday.
The Celtics are playing in their second straight home game. They will head to Milwaukee on Sunday and then home against the Hawks on Tuesday and back to back at Brooklyn on Wednesday.

The Celtics stood pat for the most part in the off season, bringing back their entire core of players and losing just Svi Mykhailiuk and Oshae Brissett. They added Baylor Scheierman, who was the 30th pick in the draft and signed 2nd round pick, Anton Watson to a 2 way contract. They have one open roster spot that they are likely to keep open in case of injury during the season. It also is apparent that several of the returning Celtics have improved quite a bit over the summer.

The Nets decided to go into a rebuild mode this season when they traded their most valuable player, Mikal Bridges, to the Knicks. They received Shake Milton in a sign and trade from the Knicks. They got Bojan Bogdanovic and Ziaire Williams from Memphis. They received their own '25 and '26 draft picks back from Houston and 5 first round picks in the Bridges trade. They lost Keita Bates-Diop, Jacob Gilyard, Dennis Smith, Jr, and Lonnie Walker IV.

The Celtics will be without Kristaps Porzingis, who is still rehabbing from off season ankle surgery and is not expected back until December. Jaylen Brown will miss his fourth straight game with a hip injury. I'm going to guess that Joe Mazzulla will once again start the double bigs with Queta starting again. Luke Kornet is doubtful for this game after leaving Wednesday's game with hamstring tightness.

Bojan Bogdanovic will miss this game while he continues to rehab from off season foot surgery. He has yet to suit up and play this season. Day'Ron Sharpe will be out until at least mid November with a hamstring strain. Trendon Watford is expected to miss at least the Nets' 3 game road trip with a hamstring injury. Noah Clowney is questionable with an illness.

Key matchups
vs
Derrick White vs Cam Thomas
Thomas is averaging 24.9 points, 3.1 rebounds 3.1 assists and 1 steal per game. He is shooting 42.3% from the field and 30.6% from beyond the arc. The Celtics definitely need to defend him well. Derrick White has been playing very well to help make up for the absence of Jaylen Brown and the Celtics will need him to continue to step up his game in this one.

vs
Jrue Holiday vs Dennis Schroder
Schroder is averaging 19.9 points, 3.0 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 1.4 steals. He is shooting 50.5% from the field and 49% from beyond the arc. The Celtics must defend him both inside and out as he is shooting very well. They also have to play him for the pass as he has been moving the ball very well.

Honorable Mention
Jayson Tatum vs Cam Johnson
Johnson is averaging 16.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game. He is shooting 36.4% from the field and 45.5% from beyond the arc. The Celtics need to especially stay with Johnson on the perimeter as he is shooting very well from there.

Keys to the Game
Defense - Defense is always the key to winning. The Celtics are 7th in the league with a defensive rating of 109.3. The Nets are 19th in the league with a defensive rating of 114.2. The Nets are averaging 113.5 points per game (15th). The Celtics are 3rd in the league averaging 122.3 points per game. The Celtics have to especially guard the perimeter as the Nets are 6th with 40.1 three pointers attempted per game. On Wednesday, the Celtics allowed the Warriors to shoot 41.2% on threes. The Celtics have to defend much better in this one.

Rebound - The Celtics must box out and crash the boards. They can't score without the ball and it will take extra effort on their part beat the Nets on the boards. The Nets are 29th with 39 rebounds per game. The Celtics are 18th with 44.1 rebounds per game. The Celtics were out rebounded 53-47 on Wednesday and they need to do better in this game. The Celtics have to put out more effort to get to the rebounds before the Nets and prevent second and third chance shots.

Be Aggressive - The Celtics have to come out and be aggressive right from the opening tip. They have to be aggressive on defense, driving to the basket, rebounding, diving for loose balls and just playing harder in general. What the Nets lack in star power, they make up for with effort. The Celtics need to match their effort and aggressiveness. They also have to play hard right up until the final buzzer. This Nets team without stars play hard and win by giving more effort than their opponents.

Move the Ball and Play the Right Way - At times against the Warriors, especially at the end, the Celtics stopped moving the ball and players tried to do too much instead of playing team ball. They weren't moving the ball and they were rushing shots. They had just 22 assists for the game. They need to trust each other and not lapse into hero ball. They have to get back to playing Celtics ball, especially on defense.

X-Factors
Home Game and Bounce Back - The Celtics played very well at home last season, losing only 4 games at the TD Garden all season. They need to feed off the energy of the crowd and hopefully, the Nets will be distracted by travel and the very loud crowd. The Celtics need to take losing on their home court personally and bounce back to win this one. The Celtics need to protect home court.

Officiating - The officiating is always an x-factor. Some referees call the game tight and others let them play. Some favor the home team and others call it evenly. Some refs just seem to have an agenda that doesn't fit the events on the court. At times they miss important calls that change the momentum of the game. The Celtics need to play well enough not to leave the game in the hands of the officials at the end and they can't let bad calls take away from their focus.

[CelticsLoyalist]

I think sometimes it can be forgotten that when you have a team like this and a duo like Tatum and Brown, when one of them is out for an extended period of time, the other players miss more than just his points. If you're used to playing with someone day in day out night in night out and they're not there in a real in-game situation, that can really affect the other players, offensively and defensively. It is to be expected we might drop a game here and there. Add to that we also don't have KP back yet. The positive view is we have things we have to work on to figure it out until we get back to full strength. That means games like this we must win. We are in a bit of a tough spot where we can't drop games we need to win.

[CelticsLoyalist]

This is a smart move. Start moving the ball without dribbling and make them reach and foul or make a mistake for an open look.

[CelticsLoyalist]

I notice a big difference in their officiating against us. They've been letting teams hang all over us.

[CelticsLoyalist]

How did we forget how to make 3s???

[CelticsLoyalist]

The Refs rewards players who are out of control trying to gain possession that should've been a no call.

[CelticsLoyalist]

Squeezed it out. I understand that teams are playing harder against us, but we are missing a ton of shots. Hauser is really off. Nice experience clawing back and getting the OT win. We need to badly work on things. One main area that I see that will beat these defenses hanging all over us and contesting that Tatum handoff play we use is to instead of isoing that play, as soon as they trap we should just be moving the ball no dribble rotate rotate rotate the pass until it lands and just watch these defenses scramble and stop pressing our handoff plays. I see too much dribbling at times and what worked for us last year was swing the ball around the floor until the Defense gets caught slipping.

[jmost]

Hard fought win. I thought the Nets played really hard. Give them credit for that as not every team does.

Some things to like:

Jrue posting up.

Pritchard in the paint, whether hitting fadeaways or somehow getting his shot off against taller opponents.

Queta becoming a legit NBA player in front of our eyes. (On a related note, Tillman is falling down the depth chart. He just doesn't provide the rebounding or shot-blocking that Queta does. Even Kornet may lose time to Queta.)

Tatum - for the most part - keeping his cool as the refs let teams beat on him.

Winning even with two big stars out and most of rest of the team in a prolonged shooting slump.

Staying the course after a brutal start and finding a way to win.

[freshnthehouse]

Agreed on the Nets. No one told those players this is a rebuilding year. They are getting after it. Reminiscent of the Jazz a couple years back.

[CelticsLoyalist]

I want to add a bit of, what could be considered by some to be a controversial conspiracy about Ben Simmons. Having watched at least 80% of this game, it appears obvious to me Ben Simmons is putting everyone on. He won't shoot and it's on purpose. He is playing the whole league and I frankly find him to be a fraud.

I am calling him out and accusing him of purposely not trying. And he has been doing it for years now. I refuse to believe anything else. He got his big payday and is milking it all the way to the bank. Teams are keeping him, putting up with no effort and obvious bad play on purpose. As long as teams keep playing him, he will keep playing them as to not void his contract.

There is a particular play in this game where Simmons makes a play that I could tell he forgot to play stupid and actually instinctively tried resulting in an All-Star caliber play. Immediately after he seems to realize he messed up and went back to acting confused.

Simmons is playing this league and its fans for fools. He is not really trying on purpose and it seems obvious to me.