Kevin Durant broke loose in the third quarter, and the Brooklyn Nets followed on the way to a 123-95 win over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden as the Nets returned to the NBA’s Christmas Day slate for the first time in seven years with decisive win over a fellow Eastern Conference contender led by their two stars.
Durant and Kyrie Irving combined for 40 points in the second half and 66 all together as the Nets turned a three-point halftime deficit into a 28-point win.
“I think this is, you know, been like this the majority of their careers to be honest,” said Joe Harris. “They've been playing at such an elite level, Kevin 14th year, not sure what year it is for Ky, probably like 10, but pretty much the moment these guys have got here this is the talent they've displayed and even now late in their careers they continue to get better and I think it's a testament to really the work they put in every day. These guys are superstar players and a lot of you guys haven't been able to come to practice but the work that these guys put in. They work as hard as anybody I've been around and they kind of carry the torch for the rest of the team in that way.”
Nets head coach Steve Nash described his team as “slowed down” a bit during the first half, but that turned around in a hurry after the break. Brooklyn outscored Boston 72-41 in the second half, shooting 65.7 percent overall and 69.2 percent from 3-point range after halftime. After committing 12 first-half turnovers, they gave it away just three times in the second half.
“It was nothing tactical going into the second half,” said Irving. “It was really up to us to make high basketball IQ plays and then be able to stop them on the defensive end, and then be able to use our pace to extend the lead, and then once we did that, I felt like we were just pretty just managing the game well. Few too many turnovers in the first half. Few too many points that we gave up on offensive rebounds, but other than that, we just want to continue building on this game.”
Irving led the Nets with a game-high 37 points, surpassing Micheal Ray Richardson’s franchise Christmas Day record of 36 points from 1984. Irving shot 13-of-21 overall and 7-of-10 from 3-point range with eight assists and six rebounds. His 14 points in the second quarter kept the Nets close, down 54-51 at halftime.
Then Durant, who had nine points at halftime, took over.
“I got it in my hands and I just tried to be aggressive going downhill,” said Durant. “To end that first half we played a spread game, and ran pick-and-rolls and relied on our defense. We wanted to kind of end that first half with the ball in Kyrie’s hands, so we could get some good shots and go at their bigs in the pick-and-roll. So I felt like I was just waiting for more opportunities in the second half to just be aggressive to shoot. I was able to knock some down.”
After a Harris 3-pointer opened the second half, Durant scored nine straight Brooklyn points, set up DeAndre Jordan with a lob, then after an Irving finish, knocked down a 3-pointer for a 71-63 Nets lead. The Celtics closed within 73-70, but Durant made two free throws, Irving drilled a 3-pointer, and a Durant dunk and Irving transition finish had the Nets up 82-70.
Durant scored 16 in the third quarter as the Nets shot 13-of-18 overall and 4-of-5 from 3-point range in the quarter, and took an 86-77 lead into the fourth.
He finished up with 29 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, plus 8-of-9 on free throws, with four rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
“It’s still impressive to watch after all these years,” said Nash. “Just his length, his skill, his mobility, his athleticism. It’s an incredible package. For him to have little runs like that is nothing for him in his mind. For mere mortals in this game in the NBA it’s impossible to think of sometimes. So yeah, an incredible run there. You look at the first half I think we played a little slow and lacked some pace and some burst, and therefore Kevin didn’t get as involved as we’d like. In the second half we had a little more burst, a little more decisive, he got more involved and he also just took over at times.”
Caris LeVert kept things rolling to start the fourth. After a Tristan Thompson bucket for Boston, LeVert knocked down a jumper, fed Jarrett Allen for a dunk, popped in a step-back jumper, then kicked out to Landry Shamet for a 3-pointer and a 95-79 lead 2:15 into the quarter.
With the Nets up 99-88, Irving and Durant teamed for a 9-0 run that stretched the lead to 20 points, with Durant’s two free throws making it a 108-88 game with just over four minutes to go.
LeVert finished with 10 points and Allen had 11 rebounds, four blocks, and nine points. After going into halftime shooting under 50 percent overall and below 40 percent from 3-point range, the Nets finished up the game shooting 53.9 percent in total and 51.7 percent from 3-point range.
“They have a resolve and an understanding, and I think they came out and tried to be physical with us,” said Nash of the challenge the Celtics gave the Nets early on. “I think we slowed down a little bit. So our offense was a little shaky in the first half. We didn’t set ourselves up or create any advantages or knock the first domino down enough. We adjusted. We turned it over. We gave up offensive rebounds in the first half. In the second half we didn’t turn it over, didn’t give up as many offensive rebounds. I thought it was down to just competing, wanting it, and trying to match their physicality.”