Fresh off their second win of the season on Sunday night, the Nets returned home looking for their first win at the Barclays Center in 224 days.
Standing in their way was the Boston Celtics, a team dealing with a season-long injury to superstar Jayson Tatum. Even without Tatum, the Celtics showed off why they’re a first-class organization in a 113-99 win over Brooklyn. A late 18-3 run by Boston proved to be the difference in this one.
Here are the three biggest takeaways from the Nets home defeat to the Celtics.
1. Egor Demin’s Great First Half
The Nets’ eighth overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft has been playing some good basketball after a slow start to this season, and Tuesday night was one of the best performances of his young career. Demin had 12 points in the first half on 4-4 shooting from behind the arc. While he struggled some in the second half, it was still a positive step forward for Demin.
The 19-year-old guard out of BYU is now shooting 38% from three over the first 13 games of his NBA career. His playmaking skills are improving each game, and the young guard is looking more and more comfortable on an NBA court. He complements the rest of the starting lineup well, and it seems like Demin has found a permanent spot in Brooklyn from now on.
2. The Bench Kept It Close
A Jaylen Brown layup put the Celtics up by 11 points with four and a half minutes left in the third quarter, and it looked like Boston was starting to pull away. That was until the bench unit swooped in to save the day. The Brooklyn bench scored 16 points in the final four minutes of the quarter after the Nets had just eight points in the first eight minutes of the frame.
Day’Ron Sharpe, Ziaire Williams, and Tyrese Martin led the way, combining to score all 16 of those points. Sunday night’s win over Washington was the best game of the season for the Nets’ bench unit, and after a slow start on Tuesday, they got it going against Boston as well. The Nets need to survive the non-Michael Porter Jr. minutes, and the bench has done just that recently.
3. Missed Opportunities Loom Large
The Nets played well enough for a majority of this game to win, but some key missed opportunities ultimately spelled doom for Brooklyn. There were numerous times in the fourth quarter when the Nets got a stop but couldn’t corral the rebound, which led to made threes from Boston. The Celtics had ten offensive rebounds on the night, with many of those coming in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn also missed eight free throws in the game.
When you play a team with a championship pedigree, doing the small things correctly can often be the difference between winning and losing the game. The Nets are playing some better basketball over the past few weeks, but a failure to win on the margins is costing them real chances to steal some wins. Until that changes, there’ll be many more games just like this one.
