The Celtics held off a fast-finishing Brooklyn Nets team 118-110 on the back of 41 points from Jayson Tatum as Boston limited Ben Simmons’ impact.
While Simmons had a few classy touches early Boston did well to take away opportunities for Brooklyn to operate its offence in transition, forcing the Australian to play in the halfcourt where he struggled, going 1-for-5 from the field for five points.
Simmons did have eight assists and six rebounds though but the Nets as a whole were only able to score eight fast break points.
Nets coach Jacque Vaughn later confirmed post-game that Simmons (injury management) would not play against the Celtics on Thursday in Boston on the second day of the back-to-back.
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Simmons was effective running the offence early on Tuesday, finding Mikal Bridges for a 3-pointer within six seconds of the opening tip-off.
Simmons then later threaded the needle with a brilliant bounce pass for Dorian Finney-Smith, marking his third assist in just two minutes after also connecting with Cam Thomas for a floating jump shot on the previous possession.
At that point of the game the Nets had a 7-6 lead but it was short-lived as Boston went on a 9-3 run, consistently targeting Cam Thomas in defence and posting him up early with success.
Meanwhile, the Celtics were also making a concerted effort to play off of Simmons and Nic Claxton as Brooklyn’s spacing suffered with the pair sharing the court.
Simmons checked out midway through the first quarter after back-to-back air balls, with the Nets trailing 16-11 at that point.
A solid stretch from Brooklyn’s bench, including two 3-pointers in the space of 30 seconds from new addition Dennis Schroder, helped keep the Nets in touch with the Celtics.
Boston took a 36-30 lead into the second quarter on the back of 16 points from Jayson Tatum, who at one point made three-straight triples and also had a pair of assists and rebounds.
Tatum didn’t slow down in the second quarter, adding another 15 points as both he and Jaylen Brown largely got whatever they wanted targeting Brooklyn’s under-sized guards.
Simmons, meanwhile, once he re-entered the game started to be intentionally fouled by Boston late in the quarter and had mixed success from the free throw line, making two of his four shots.
The Celtics immediately went after Claxton when Simmons headed to the bench after picking up a few cheap fouls of his own.
Boston dominated down the stretch to go on an 11-0 run at one point, setting up a 72-57 halftime lead on the back of 31 points from Tatum.
The Celtics led by as many as 23 points in the third quarter and looked set to cruise to a comfortable win but the Nets refused to go away, eventually getting it to 99-93 with 7:55 on the clock in the fourth.
Boston quickly responded with a Derrick White 3-pointer and the Celtics were able to close out the game, albeit not in as dominant fashion as they may have hoped, winning 118-110.
Having been targeted early on the defensive end Thomas responded well for the Nets to finish with 26 points while Bridges topped the Nets with 27.
GIDDEY SOLID AS STAR DUO POWER THUNDER TO VICTORY
Elsewhere, Josh Giddey rebounded with a solid display against the Orlando Magic as the Oklahoma City Thunder improved to 37-17 with a 127-113 win.
Giddey had a few nice moments on the offensive end early in Tuesday’s game, finishing in the paint for four points to go with two rebounds and an assist.
That then became six points as Giddey, who was again given plenty of time and space to think beyond the arc by the Magic defence, drained a long two-pointer.
The Magic led by as many as 11 points in the first quarter with Jalen Suggs going 3-for-3 from deep early but the bench helped keep the Thunder in it, outscoring Orlando 9-0 in the opening quarter.
It meant OKC went in the second only trailing 32-31 after a solid opening from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had four points, three assists, a steal and a block.
Giddey picked up where he left off when the Australian re-entered the game with seven minutes left in the second quarter, adding another quick four points to help Oklahoma City open up a 49-41 lead.
The 21-year-old was finishing well at the rim, including a transition floater, in a reminder of what he is capable of with a 6-foot-8 frame even if the outside shooting remains a weakness.
It was particularly important given Orlando did a good job to contain Gilgeous-Alexander as a scorer in the first half, limiting him to just eight points and one trip to the free throw line.
Chet Holmgren, meanwhile, had two points with Jalen Williams leading the Thunder on 14 points while Giddey had 10 points, three rebounds and two assists at the half.
Still, despite Gilgeous-Alexander’s quiet opening half the Thunder were able to take a 60-52 lead into halftime.
Giddey went scoreless in the third quarter but that was more a product of Gilgeous-Alexander starting to catch fire, putting up 15 points in the period as OKC took a 92-82 lead into the fourth.
In the fourth quarter it was Williams’ turn to take over, scoring the Thunder’s first 10 points of the quarter as the visitors extended their buffer out to 102-86.
Giddey, meanwhile, then recorded back-to-back assists — including a beautiful, behind-the-back pass to an open Cason Wallace, as two straight 3-pointers made it a 21-point game.
Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams simply couldn’t be stopped from that point, finishing with 32 and 33 points respectively.
It made it back-to-back consecutive 30-point games for the pair, who scored 38 and 32 respectively in the 127-113 win over the Kings earlier in the week.
Giddey, meanwhile, finished on 10 points to go with five rebounds and just as many assists in a handy performance from the Australian.