BOSTON _ A 22-game stretch of .500 play by the Nets was short-circuited last night at TD Garden by a dysfunctional first-half offensive display in which they regressed dramatically against a Celtics team fighting for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Nets made only three of 21 shots and scored just 13 first-quarter points, digging a hole they never escaped in a 114-105 loss.
If there was a silver lining, it was the fact that Brook Lopez set the all-time franchise scoring record. Lopez missed his first five shots of the game but finished with 25 points and shot 10-for-21, giving him a total of 10,444 points to break the all-time franchise scoring record of 10,440 points by Buck Williams.
Jeremy Lin led the Nets (20-61) with 26 points and 12 rebounds, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had 17 points and 11 rebounds, Caris LeVert had 12 points, and Justin Hamilton 11 points. But the Nets shot just 36 percent from the field for the game. Isaiah Thomas topped the Celtics (52-29) with 27 points, and they got 19 from Al Horford and 18 from Avery Bradley.
The Nets trailed by 15 at the end of the opening period; the deficit grew to 21 points late in the second quarter, and it soared to 27 when the Celtics opened the third quarter with an 11-2 burst. Typical of their season, the Nets remained undaunted and battled back to cut the Celtics' lead to just six points on the record-setting jumper by Lopez with 4:01 left to play. But the Celtics responded with a 6-0 surge to maintain control.
Not only had the Nets experienced late-season success with an 11-11 record since March 1 going into the Celtics game, but they figured to benefit from the experience of finishing the season in the thick of the playoff race. Boston was tied with Cleveland for first in the Eastern Conference but needed to win to get the No. 1 seed because the Cavaliers hold the tiebreaker.
The Nets' final game Wednesday in Chicago is against a Bulls team that went into Monday night's games tied for the eighth and final playoff berth after losing to the Nets on Saturday night at Barclays Center.
Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said there was no need to address the chance to take advantage of the playoff atmosphere specifically with his players. "No, I think these guys know when you come to the Boston Garden what it's like," Atkinson said. "They read the papers. You don't have to hype them up. They know when they step on the floor what they're getting into."
Atkinson agreed, however, that the chance to evaluate how his players handle the pressurized atmosphere was invaluable. "I think you put more weight on even Chicago the other night," Atkinson said. "They're not a team that's out of the playoffs. They were fighting. So you get a fairer judgment of the player rather than playing against a team that's not playing for anything."
Since March 1, the Nets actually are sixth in the Eastern Conference standings in that span, but Atkinson cautioned that must be taken "with a little bit of a grain of salt. We have to understand that at this time of the year, not every team is fighting for a playoff spot, so we have to be a little tempered in our evaluation of the situation."
The Nets' first-half effort certainly underlined the reason for caution in evaluating their progress. But once again, they fought back to throw a scare into the Celtics at the end.
