MANILA — The Boston Celtics stormed through Brooklyn on Wednesday night (Thursday AM in Manila) and demolished the host Nets in a one-sided 139-114 victory at the Barclays Center..
The star duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown orchestrated the onslaught with a 60-point barrage on a combined 20-of-39 shooting from the field. The 1-2 punch also pooled together 21 rebounds and 14 assists.
After trailing 34-32 at the end of the first quarter, the Celtics unreeled 71 points in the second and third periods to seize the momentum before finishing off Brooklyn with a 36-25 fourth quarter kick.
The Celtics’ victory followed a disappointing loss at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks just amere 24 hours before.
“As far as our attitude and our bounce-back, I tought that was important. There’s going to be ebbs and flows throughout the season, I care more about how we respond when things don’t go our way,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla told The Boston Herald,
Boston made sure of that by hitting 53.8 percent of its shots (50 of 93) and 47.8 percent from 3-point land (22-of-46). Payton Pritchatd added 23 for the defending champs while Jrue Holiday pitched in 16 and 4 assists.
Zaire Williams carded 23 points for Brooklyn, which also shot the ball well (44.2 percent from 3 and 50.6 percent overall) but the Nets just couldn’t sustain the Celtics’ firepower.