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Celtics shut down Nets with strong defensive effort and win 103-92

Celtics shut down Nets with strong defensive effort and win 103-92

NEW YORK — The Celtics haven’t expressed much concern about their defense, ranked 15th after the first quarter of the season. They thought they could’ve erased numerous buckets in Wednesday’s win over Miami, while the offense failed them in Friday’s loss to the Heat.

Communication, navigating screens and sometimes individual efforts plagued that unit though as the Celtics erased any mistakes on that end with historic offensive output. Each became more apparent when they shot 33% from deep against the Heat, and facing Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant provided the perfect opportunity to guard your yard for each Boston defender.

While the Nets hunted mismatches, the Celtics stood strong, and held Brooklyn to 40.5% shooting in a 103-92 win. Jaylen Brown scored 34 points on 10-for-20 shooting and Jayson Tatum shook off nine turnovers to score 29 points, finishing the game 10-of-19.

Joe Mazzulla held his timeout again as Durant and Irving poured in a pair of baskets each to put the Celtics behind 11-2. They received some fortune when Nic Claxton dropped Durant’s pass on the two-on-one fast break, but Derrick White met Kyrie Irving at the rim on the next possession with a block. The Celtics ran back to stop Durant after Tatum’s next turnover, and Grant Williams kept Boston within four points with the team’s first three makes.

He found Tatum for three and Brown hit his first one play later in the corner on a fast break. Brown chased down Joe Harris after Irving slipped a pass past the Celtics, but not far enough past the Celtics star, who swatted Harris off the glass. Tatum hit a three the other way, pushed Boston ahead 16-11, and Jacque Vaughn needed to stop the game first.

Brown took over the Celtics’ ball-handling midway through the quarter while Tatum caught some rest on the bench, getting to the free throw line attacking Seth Curry and pulling up for three around a Horford screen. Brown buried five threes in the first quarter, passing Horford and Tatum (4) for most in a frame this season. Durant’s eyes widened when Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard took the floor, drawing two and finding Harris and Cam Thomas for three within the flow of the offense to keep the game close.

The Celtics led 35-27 into the second quarter, where Pritchard extended the lead crossing up Irving at the left elbow to create a jumper and pouring in a transition finish soon after. Irving threw Claxton an alley-oop and saved another Durant miss in transition to…

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