bJaylen Brown criticized his Boston Celtics teammates following a 113-105 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Friday, saying the team lacked energy and effort in NBA Cup play. The defeat dropped Boston back to 8-8 after winning three straight games to reach .500 for the first time this season.
“Come ready to play, or don’t play at all,” Brown said. “That’s my whole thing. We’ve gotta come ready to play. We just went through the motions today. Like, I don’t understand it.”
The Celtics trailed 62-53 at halftime after surrendering 40 second-quarter points to Brooklyn. Boston pulled within 96-94 midway through the fourth quarter but could not complete the comeback. The Nets improved to 3-12 with the victory.
After tying the score at 51 with 3:23 left in the second quarter, the Celtics allowed an 11-2 run to close the half. A Josh Minott turnover with seven seconds remaining led to Brooklyn’s final four points before halftime.
Brown said his team didn’t have the right effort “for the majority of the game.” He specifically pointed to late in the first half and the end of the third quarter as problematic stretches.
“Regardless if you’re making or missing shots, regardless of anything, we’ve just got to come out and play with great energy, great enthusiasm for the game,” Brown said. “Like, want to win. It just didn’t seem like that was the case tonight.”
Brooklyn’s Michael Porter Jr. scored 33 points on 13-for-21 shooting. Nic Claxton recorded a triple-double with 18 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds against Boston’s defense.
Joe Mazzulla acknowledged his team’s margin for error is smaller this season without last year’s talent and experience mix.
“I think it’s true of any basketball team, but I think the margin for error is smaller for certain teams,” Mazzulla said. “And the margin for error is smaller for us. We have to be the best. We have to be sharp physically and mentally every night.”
Brown emphasized the need for his team to play with greater intensity moving forward.
“We need to play with an edge defensively and offensively,” Brown said. “Like, we’ve got to be the harder-playing team. That can’t be negotiable. And tonight we weren’t. Brooklyn was the harder-playing team. They played with more edge, and they deserved to win tonight.”
Brown has a career high PER of 21.4 this season as his usage has spiked to 35.6 without Jayson Tatum beside him in the lineup. Brown has also improved his efficiency with a True Shooting Percentage of .589 as his usage has scaled.