The Celtics bounced back in their return to TD Garden, as they cruised past the Brooklyn Nets 148-111 Friday night in blowout fashion.
Nikola Vučević had the best performance since being acquired by the C's ahead of the trade deadline earlier this month, notching a double-double of 28 points on 9-of-13 from the field, including a perfect 3-of-3 from 3-point range, 11 rebounds and also four assists off the bench.
"I'm still getting used to the offense and my new teammates, and learning their tendencies -- learning my ways," Vučević told reporters. "At times, I overthink a little bit, which makes me hesitant and takes away my aggressiveness. And I feel like tonight I was able to put it more together, just play off my teammates."
Jaylen Brown also scored 28 points on 9-of-12 shooting, and was a perfect 4-of-4 from behind the arc, to go along with seven rebounds and nine assists, while Payton Pritchard added 22 points and went 4-of-5 from 3 and dished out five assists. Derrick White chipped in 12 points and seven assists for the Celtics -- who improved to 19-9 at home and 39-20 on the season.
Michael Porter Jr. led the way for the Nets, scoring 18 points while Danny Wolfe added 16 points off the bench, as Brooklyn lost its seven straight -- falling to 15-44 and remain at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics were ahead only 66-57 at the half, despite connecting on 62% of their attempts from the field and 60% from the 3-point line (12-of-20), before outscoring Brooklyn 43-26 in the third quarter, including a 27-7 run to end the period. They ended up shooting 15-of-19 from the field on 12 assists and were 5-of-7 from deep in the third.
While the deficit grew to 41 in the final frame for the Nets, Boston finished the night with a season-high 66.7% (52-of-78) from the field, which including the playoffs, was the franchise's third-highest percentage in a game in the shot clock era (since 1954-55) -- behind 67.9% in 1984 and 67.0% in 1990, according to ESPN.
The home team also hit 64.7% (22-of-34) of their 3-point attempts Friday, while everyone who checked in scored with six players finishing in double-figures and the bench netted 77 points.
"I thought we just did a great job reading the game, Joe Mazzulla said in his postgame comments. "They went to -- they're good defensively and they have some different coverages, whether they're switching, whether they're blitzing, or whether they're just going to drop there. So I thought we just made the right reads throughout most of the entire game.
The Celtics, who won their season-series against the Nets 3-1 and are winners of five of their last six, will host the Philadelphia 76ers (33-26) Sunday and NBC/Peacock will have the tip-off at 8:00 pm ET.
Game Notes:
Boston won the rebound battle 38-29, but were outscored in the paint by the Nets 54-48. The Celtics had 38 assists on 52 baskets and turned the ball over 12 times, while Brooklyn had 29 dimes on 43 made shots and also committed 12 turnovers.
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