BOSTON — The last time the Nets played at TD Garden, they suffered the second-worst loss in their history, a beating so bad it cost Jacque Vaughn his job.
This time, they lost a 108-104 overtime crusher, leading the defending champion Celtics almost wire-to-wire before suffering heartbreak in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 19,156.
Brooklyn led by 14 early on and was still ahead in the fourth quarter before being pushed to overtime.
That’s when Boston star Jayson Tatum (game-high 33 points, nine rebounds and six assists) found Al Horford for a tie-breaking 3-pointer that gave the Celtics the lead for good.
Friday was a far cry from the 136-86 caning the Nets took on Feb. 24 that was the second-worst in their NBA history and saw Vaughn summarily fired.
“I’m not a fan of moral victories because I feel like the game was winnable for us. We led most of the game. They just had a few good possessions at the end, big-time shots,” said Cam Thomas, who had a team-high 31 points. “We’ve just got to live with it, tip our hats. But at the end of the day, I feel like the game was winnable. It wasn’t like we were very outmatched from start to finish like I normally am when we play here, It’s always a beatdown. But it was really good.
“I think the state of the team right now is good. The energy is high. We all like each other. We all love playing for one another. The coach has been great. So I think the state of the team, the vibes are high. We’ve just got to keep playing and keep trying to win games. So I’m really happy.”
The game was knotted at 94-all, 96-all, 98-all and finally 100-all in overtime.
Tatum found Horford for a 3-pointer that made it 103-100. Dennis Schroder (20 points) pulled the Nets within one, but Tatum’s jumper padded it back to three. And when Dorian Finney-Smith missed, the Nets were running out of chances.
Thomas not seeing the clock and taking a 24-second violation essentially ended the last one.
The Nets battered Boston 51-39 on the glass.
And coming in tied for the fewest 3s allowed (just 11.4 per game), they forced the champs to miss 39 of them, going just 14-of-53 from deep.
But Brooklyn got outscored 20-7 off turnovers, despite the Nets turning the ball over one fewer time (13-12).
That got Tatum going with 10 points in the third, and he helped sink the Nets in overtime.
“We lost, and that sucks, so we’ve got to take the positives from it,” said Ben Simmons, who had eight points, eight assists and seven boards. “That’s what Jordi leads with: play hard. If you don’t play hard, you’re not going to play. And that’s the expectation for everybody. So when one guy’s doing it, the next guy’s doing it. It’s a trickle effect. That’s just the standard that we have here.”
The Nets (4-5) put that standard on the line Saturday in Cleveland, where former coach Kenny Atkinson has his Cavaliers at an NBA-best 10-0.
Jrue Holiday had 17 points and Horford 13 points and 10 boards for Boston, who improved to 8-2.
Saturday is a loss that will gall the Nets, who had stormed out of the blocks to a quick lead, scoring the first 12 points.
The lead reached 16-2 on Thomas’ 3.
But Brooklyn saw the lead cut to four points going into the second quarter and had a 51-49 lead going into the second half.
It was a tense fourth quarter that saw four ties and three lead changes, leading to the final margin being decided in overtime.
“I don’t think our group needs this to believe that we’re confident with everybody. We’re just not happy because we lost the game,” Fernandez said. “They’re a very good team, but we cannot feel satisfied because that’s not what this league is about.
“If you feel satisfied for one moment, that’s going to kick you at some point and you will get punished. So our guys don’t want to lose this game, and we will learn from it. And then [on Saturday], we play against a very good team.”
