The Boston Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets were both noticeably shorthanded in their game on Friday night. Both teams were missing two of their top three players and the Celtics were also without a third starter while the Nets were without a few key bench pieces.
The game was going to come down to which team could play cleaner basketball and which team's role players could step up. That turned out to be Brooklyn.
The Nets saw five players score in double figures and their lone remaining star, Kyrie Irving, actually finished third in scoring with 15 points. Joe Harris (20) and Jeff Green (19) both outpaced the All-Star point guard.
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Meanwhile, the Celtics had just three players total double-figure points. Jayson Tatum, Payton Pritchard, and Marcus Smart combined to score 79 of the Celtics' 104 points.
The rest of the Celtics had just 25 points and shot significantly worse than their counterparts. That included an 0-of-7 night for Evan Fournier as he returned from the NBA's health and safety protocols.
Though the Celtics fought hard to close the gap between them and the Nets late, they didn't have near enough firepower to get the job done. Here are three observations from the game that dropped the C's to 32-28 on the year.
Jayson Tatum provided the offense the Celtics needed him to
Boston Celtics
After back-to-back outings where Tatum shot 3-of-17 from the field, he came back to life against the Nets.
With Jaylen Brown and Kemba Walker sidelined, Tatum helped to carry Boston's offense. He put up 38 points on 14-of-27 shooting and 6-of-12 shooting from behind the arc. He came out of the gate quickly and continued to score well throughout the game to give the C's a fighting chance.
In the first half, Tatum made five 3-point shots and score nine quick points to help the C's build an early lead. It seemed like everything he was shooting was on target and he was doing a great job taking advantage of a matchup with Blake Griffin.
As the game wore on a bit, Tatum's pace dropped off a bit, but he still notched a double-double (38 points, 10 rebounds) for the seventh time in his last nine games. He carried the load and provided the offense the team needed to compete with the Nets.
Sure, he needs to clean up his turnovers; he had five during the game. And down the stretch, he missed a couple of key free throws (which have, at times, been an Achilles' heel for the Celtics this year).
But Tatum also played a team-high 39 minutes (nine more than any other Celtic) and notched his fourth-highest point total of the season. It's hard to ask much more of him than that.
Rookies Payton Pritchard, Aaron Nesmith fill key roles
On a night where the Celtics needed some of their bench players to step up, Pritchard and Nesmith delivered for the team.
Pritchard's contributions were a bit more obvious. The first-year player from Oregon has been one of the top men off the bench for the C's this year and on Friday, he took that to the next level.
Against the Nets, Pritchard posted a whopping 22 points off the bench, the second-highest point total of his career. During the game, he shot 8-of-12 from the field and a scorching 6-of-7 from beyond the arc. That included some pretty deep ones like the one below.
That's some Damian Lillard, Stephen Curry-type range from Pritchard there. If he can continue to be a top-notch shooter from outside and make noise from deep like that, he will continue to be a key cog for the C's off the bench, especially when they're fully healthy and defenses can pay less attention to him.
As for Nesmith, his impact is a bit more understated. He played 17 minutes for the C's and provided them with some key energy that helped to spark them at various points.
On the day, Nesmith logged 5 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block. He shot just 2-of-5 from the field, but his rebounding effort was much-needed and the shots that he did make were longer ones, a good sign for his development.
And again, any time a player is flying around the court like this, they tend to have a positive impact on the game.
Even as players get healthier, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Nesmith earn more playing time, especially if his offensive game continues to improve. He is still a work in progress overall, but the energy he plays with is contagious and has a positive impact on the team.
Perhaps next game, Brad Stevens will give Nesmith some minutes ahead of Romeo Langford, who was a mind-numbing minus-26 on the day against the Nets in just 19 minutes. Nesmith started the second half over Langford and proved to be much better in this contest.
Turnovers, fast-break defense crushed the Celtics
Stop me if you've heard this one before: The Celtics struggled badly with turnovers against the Nets.
This is becoming a trend for the C's. In five of their last six games, they have turned the ball over at least 15 times. And in four of them, they have had at least 19 turnovers. That was the number they had against the Nets.
Brooklyn took advantage of those. They notched 20 points off those 19 Celtics turnovers and they also turned those turnovers into a lot of fast-break opportunities. In fact, the Nets outscored the Celtics by 29 points on the break.
Stevens acknowledged the team's struggle with turnovers and in transition after the game.
"We got killed in [that area]," Stevens said of the fast-break point discrepancy. "Turnovers are a big part of that from our defensive perspective and we have to play with better pace up the floor. There's no question about it. When you turn the ball over 19 times, and that's become an issue for our team regardless of who's been on the floor, then it's hard to come back.
"We also missed some opportunities at the rim that turned around and got us at the other end," Stevens continued. "Regardless, turnovers have to improve. Transition defense has to improve. Transition offense obviously has to improve. And I think it will."
It better. Otherwise, the Celtics are going to have a lot of trouble winning closely contested games. They simply can't continue to play sloppily and expect to keep winning.