BOSTON _ The Nets ended 2017 showing unmistakable signs of progress and competitiveness but still in search of a measure of consistency that is necessary to become an upper-level team. They hung tough to the end of their New Year's Eve game with the Celtics, but ultimately, they learned a lesson about execution, defense and rebounding from the best team in the Eastern Conference during a 108-105 loss Sunday night at TD Garden.
It was the eighth loss in the past 10 games for the Nets (13-23), but they can look forward to coming off the road for an extended five-game homestand starting Monday against the Magic at Barclays Center.
The Nets managed to take a brief third-quarter lead but went to the final period trailing by six and needing to find a way to keep the Celtics off the boards. A four-point play by Allen Crabbe drew the Nets within four, but the Celtics responded with an explosive 9-0 surge punctuated by an Al Horford alley-oop dunk to regain control at 93-80 and eventually stretched their lead to a game-high 14 points.
The Nets cut their deficit to 105-103 on a three-pointer by Quincy Acy with 16.7 seconds to go and had a chance to send the game to overtime when Marcus Smart missed the second of two foul shots a moment later. But Spencer Dinwiddie's three-point attempt was errant, and the Celtics controlled the rebound.
Kyrie Irving led the Celtics (30-10) with 28 points, and they got strong bench play from Marcus Morris (15 points) and Terry Rozier III (14 points seven rebounds), but the key was their huge 19-7 advantage in second-chance points. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson topped the Nets with22 points and 12 rebounds, Caris LeVert had another strong effort with 16 points, six rebounds and seven assists, Acy added 14 points, DeMarre Carroll and Allen Crabbe each had 12 and Dinwiddie scored 10 to go with nine assists.
Reflecting on the Nets' impressive bounce-back blowout win Friday in Miami two days after they were dominated in New Orleans, coach Kenny Atkinson said, "Like a lot of mediocre to below-average teams, we're searching for consistency. That's the magic sauce we're looking for. There were a lot of good things: Our intensity level, our competitiveness, our physicality, we were just in a much better spot defensively. I can't explain why it's that way.
"I think there's an energy level. But there's also an execution level. You talk about execution on offense, but there's a defensive execution. They all go hand-in-hand. You can't just be physical and say, 'We'll do whatever we want.' There's a method to it."
In the opening period, it was the Celtics who demonstrated the method with efficient precision. They led by as many as 13 points before settling for a 38-28 advantage at the end of a quarter in which they shot a phenomenal 69.6 percent (16 of 23). The Nets' defense didn't improve much in the second period, but they put together a 16-4 run that included five points apiece from LeVert and Acy to cut the Celtics' lead to a single point at 47-46.
At halftime, the Celtics still were shooting 61.9 percent and had a huge 26-14 rebounding advantage, but their lead was slender at 61-59. When DeMarre Carroll hit a layup with 9:43 left in the third quarter, the Nets had their first lead at 63-61. The game still was tied at 74 when Irving sparked a 12-1 Celtics surge with two quick baskets before a Marcus Morris 3-pointer gave them an 82-71 lead, but once again, the Nets managed to stay within range, trailing 82-76 at the end of the third quarter.
