Boston Celtics

It's March, and the Brooklyn Nets have a losing record. They have Jayson Tatum to thank for that.

Despite Kevin Durant already back at an MVP-esque level in just his second game following a knee injury and Kyrie Irving available to play, the Nets dropped a crucial matchup against the Boston Celtics on Sunday, losing 126-120.

Tatum was incandescent, going for 54 points and spoiling a big night from Durant.

Durant has 8 quick to open the action on ABC 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Jn1DYnvT7M

— NBA (@NBA) March 6, 2022

The skill level that these two forwards have is just incredible.

19 for KD, 20 for JT • Halftime on ABC pic.twitter.com/SVkHF61363

— NBA (@NBA) March 6, 2022

🚨 Jayson Tatum is up to 8 threes, 39 points 🚨

1-point game early in the 4Q on ABC pic.twitter.com/ufbgQcB9MI

— NBA (@NBA) March 6, 2022

"Look at the array of moves."

41 now for Tatum on ABC pic.twitter.com/e3srfNReKb

— NBA (@NBA) March 6, 2022

WOW.

49 points for Jayson Tatum late on ABC pic.twitter.com/DNxS0VWLTT

— NBA (@NBA) March 6, 2022

No team in the NBA has more variance in its upside than the Nets (32-33). Irving still can't play home games. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Sunday that Ben Simmons definitely wouldn't be making his debut for the team until sometime after a March 10 road matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Transcribed Woj’s full Ben Simmons update he said minutes ago on ABC. pic.twitter.com/b55VpXw91o

— Chris Milholen (@ChrisMilholen) March 6, 2022

Nobody knows what this Nets team will look like in the playoffs, if it even gets there. So beating an ascending Celtics team (39-27) that had won 15 of its last 18 games would have been a great sign.

No dice. Brooklyn is now the No. 9 seed in the East and stuck in a play-in tournament spot, five games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the No. 6 seed. For a team with a reworked roster after the James Harden trade and limited amount of time to figure things out, things continue to look grim.

The Celtics, meanwhile, continue to look like a legitimate contender in the East. They are now just 4.5 games behind the Miami Heat for the top seed in the conference. And when Tatum gets cooking, they sure are tough to beat.

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Key Stats

Jayson Tatum, BOS: 54 points, 8-of-15 from three

Jaylen Brown, BOS: 21 points, five assists, three steals

Marcus Smart, BOS: 14 points, nine assists

Kevin Durant, BKN: 37 points, eight assists, six rebounds, two blocks

Kyrie Irving, BKN: 19 points, six assists

Bruce Brown, BKN: 16 points, six boards, five assists, one steal, one block

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Tatum vs. Durant Was One Heck of a Battle

And NBA fans were the winners. Well, alongside Tatum's Celtics.

For much of this game, it seemed as though these two went bucket for bucket, one-upping the other as the game progressed. It was fun to watch.

Tatum has that bounce in his step, man. Knows he can get anything he wants

— Nate Jones (@JonesOnTheNBA) March 6, 2022

Jayson Tatum turned 24 years old three days ago. That just doesn't seem right. It feels like he's been at this for a decade. And when he's on, he's so much fun to watch.

— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) March 6, 2022

Kevin Durant and Jayson Tatum: must see television

— Tony Jones (@Tjonesonthenba) March 6, 2022

Kevin Durant is the best player in the NBA. When he’s feeling it, there’s no defense for him.

— Nicholas W. Goss (@NickGossNBCSB) March 6, 2022

It was a big game for both teams, no doubt, with plenty of repercussions and talking points when it comes to playoff positioning. But sometimes, you just have to enjoy the beauty of good ball. Tatum and Durant made it easy to do so Sunday.

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Bruce Brown Had Himself a Game

With Irving having a muted offensive performance and Simmons still sidelined, the Nets needed one of their role players to step up against a tough Boston team. Brown took it upon himself to do so.

His hustle and versatility were big for Brooklyn on Sunday, helping keep them in the game, and likely will be huge come the playoffs.

This game is kind of proof of concept that Bruce Brown is going to have to be the difference in a playoff run for the Nets.

(This is outside the Simmons conversation which I have no idea what to do with or expect)

— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) March 6, 2022

When good stuff is happening for the Nets, Bruce Brown is involved. He's making a ton of plays today.

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) March 6, 2022

Bruce Brown is doing everything he possibly can to try and save the Nets.

— Ryan Ruocco (@RyanRuocco) March 6, 2022

Bruce Brown is putting his stamp all over this game.

— Nate Jones (@JonesOnTheNBA) March 6, 2022

The Nets will only go as far as Durant and Irving take them. But players like Brown have the ability to lighten that load. He showed as much against Boston, even in a loss.

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What's Next?

Both teams travel to Charlotte to face the Hornets this week. The Nets get them Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, while the Celtics face them the next night at that same time. Not at an easy back-to-back for the Hornets as they also battle for a playoff berth.

The Boston Celtics are signing Grand Rapids Gold guard Nik Stauskas to a two-year contract, his agents told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. 

The deal comes after Stauskas scored 57 and 43 points in back-to-back games for the Gold this week. 

This is somewhat of a homecoming for Stauskas, who played high school basketball in Massachusetts before playing college basketball at Michigan. 

The 28-year-old was selected eighth overall by the Sacramento Kings in 2014, but he struggled to find his footing in the NBA. After one season with the Kings, he spent two-and-a-half seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers before playing for the Brooklyn Nets, Portland Trail Blazers, Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat. 

Stauskas appeared in two games for the Heat this season while on a 10-day contract, averaging 5.5 points and 1.5 rebounds. Before that, he hadn't appeared in an NBA game since the 2018-19 campaign, when he played 68 games split between the Trail Blazers and Cavaliers. 

In 337 career games, Stauskas averaged 6.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists while shooting 38.9 percent from the floor and 35.4 percent from deep.

Stauskas will provide the Celtics with additional shooting depth, though it's unclear how much of a role he will play with players like Payton Pritchard performing consistently as of late. 

The Canadian averaged 26 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.7 assists while shooting 51.4 percent from the floor and 46.6 percent from deep in 28 games for Grand Rapids this season. If he can replicate some of that success in Boston, he'll earn some solid playing time off the bench.

Boston is fifth in the Eastern Conference with a 38-27 record following a 120-107 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday. The C's are just 4.5 games behind the first-place Miami Heat. 

The Boston Celtics are optimistic Jaylen Brown's ankle injury won't be a significant problem. 

Appearing on Toucher and Rich on 98.5 The Sports Hub (h/t Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston), Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said Brown is "doing better than I originally thought when I saw him go down" and "it doesn't look like a long-term thing."

Stevens did note Brown is going to be "constantly reevaluated" over the next few days. 

Brown went down in the first quarter of Tuesday's 107-98 victory over the Atlanta Hawks. He rolled his ankle on a drive to the basket and limped off the court under his own power. 

Head coach Ime Udoka told reporters after the game that Brown had "some swelling and soreness," but there was one point when the 2021 All-Star thought he could go back in. 

"He tried to give it a go in the back and wanted to come back out and play, [but] just decided big picture, where we're at in the season and be smart. So we'll know more over the next few days," Udoka said. 

The Celtics have already ruled Brown out for Thursday's game against the Memphis Grizzlies with a sprained right ankle. 

This marks the second notable injury for Brown this season. He suffered a hamstring injury during a Nov. 4 game against the Miami Heat. The 25-year-old missed eight straight games before returning on Nov. 22. 

The Celtics announced prior to a Dec. 3 game against the Utah Jazz that Brown wouldn't play because of injury management related to his hamstring. He wound up missing five straight games. 

Thursday will mark Brown's first missed game since Dec. 10. The six-year veteran is having a fantastic season for a surging Celtics team. He is averaging 23.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game with a 46.3 field-goal percentage in 50 starts. 

Derrick White, who was acquired from the San Antonio Spurs on Feb. 10, will likely move into the starting lineup until Brown is able to return. White is averaging 11.8 points, 3.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds in eight appearances for the Celtics. 

Boston has won 14 of its last 17 games and is currently sixth in the Eastern Conference standings with a 37-27 overall record. 

The Celtics play four of their next five games at home before starting a four-game Western Conference road trip on March 16 against the Golden State Warriors.    

Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown will not return in Tuesday's game against the Atlanta Hawks after suffering a sprained right ankle.

The wing played just three minutes before going down on a drive to the basket.

Jaylen Brown will not be returning to tonight's game after suffering a leg injury

(via @NBCSCeltics)pic.twitter.com/YQg3XbckNx

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 2, 2022

A hamstring strain sidelined Brown for eight games in November. After returning to the court, he was unavailable again for five games, admitting he "came back maybe a little too early before."

When healthy, the 2020-21 All-Star has hit his usual level. Through 49 games, he's averaging 23.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists.

For the Celtics, however, this has been another season in which they don't seem to be hitting their ceiling. At 36-27, Boston entered the day sixth in the Eastern Conference.

That's better than where the team was earlier in the year as it struggled to stay above .500. Still, another first-round exit might renew questions about whether the franchise can continue to orient its future around Brown and Jayson Tatum.

For now, Brown's contributions are integral toward the Celtics' chances of staying out of the play-in tournament and potentially climbing into the top four of the East.

Trading for Derrick White from the San Antonio Spurs was a shrewd move ahead of the deadline as the 6'4" guard checked a lot of boxes that Boston needed to fill. His arrival is even more important since he's likely to replace Brown in the starting rotation.   

The Boston Celtics could look very different if Kyrie Irving got his wish while he was playing for the franchise.

Irving recruited Anthony Davis to the Celtics after telling season-ticket holders before the 2018-19 season that he planned to re-sign with Boston, according to Heavy.com's Steve Bulpett. Davis was playing for the New Orleans Pelicans and could have been acquired in an offseason trade.

However, a league executive told Bulpett that Davis and Irving had a "falling out":

It was looking like Anthony Davis was going to go to Boston with Kyrie there for a stretch. That's what Kyrie wanted. Boston would have had to work it out with New Orleans, but once Anthony made his decision of where he wanted to go, the Pelicans wouldn't have had much choice.

But that's the way it was going. I think people assumed at first that [Kevin] Durant would stay with Golden State, so Kyrie was courting AD to join him in Boston. It was looking good, but then Anthony and Kyrie had a little bit of a falling out for some reason. I think Kyrie fell more in love with Kevin Durant as opposed to Anthony Davis. Maybe he realized KD was possible.

Another source told Bulpett that Irving "had a good team in Boston, but he wanted to play with another superstar." The star point guard reportedly began the year recruiting for the Celtics, but when he realized the team wasn't going to acquire that caliber of player, his feelings changed.

A third source told Bulpett that Irving "fell out of love with Boston" for several reasons, including that some of the young players didn't respect him like he wanted. In addition, Irving felt like former head coach Brad Stevens didn't know how to coach a superstar, the source added.

It's unclear what caused the reported falling-out between Irving and Davis. However, Irving left the Celtics after the 2018-19 campaign and joined Kevin Durant with the Brooklyn Nets, while Davis was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Irving is in his third season with the Nets, but he has played just 14 games this year. Irving, who isn't vaccinated against COVID-19, hasn't been able to play in home games because of New York City's vaccination mandate for indoor arenas.

The 29-year-old is averaging 24.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game while shooting 45.2 percent from the floor and 36.8 percent from deep. Having him off the court for home games has hurt the Nets, who sit eighth in the Eastern Conference with a 31-29 record. 

As for Davis, he won an NBA title in his first season with the Lakers. However, injuries have limited the veteran to 37 games this season. Still, he is averaging 23.1 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.3 blocks while shooting 53.7 percent.

The Lakers have struggled this season and are ninth in the Western Conference with a 27-31 record.

A tandem of Irving and Davis would have been fascinating in Boston. They'd likely be playing alongside Jayson Tatum, who is blossoming into one of the best young players in the NBA, and possibly Jaylen Brown.

However, Boston has been fine without either player. The team is playing strong defense and sits sixth in the East with a 35-26 record. 

Coming out of the NBA All-Star break, the Boston Celtics returned to action with a 129-106 victory over the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center on Thursday.

The week off couldn't have come at a better time for the Nets, who needed to reset after dropping 12 of their previous 14 games. The Celtics, on the other hand, were riding a nine-game winning streak before a surprising loss to the Detroit Pistons.

For both teams, it was a case of that form carrying over. Boston shot 54.1 percent from the floor, and Brooklyn had little counter without its top stars playing.

The Celtics were up 35-22 at the end of the first quarter and didn't look back from there. They led by as many as 29 points.

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Notable Performers

Jayson Tatum, SF, Celtics: 30 points, seven rebounds, four assists, one steal

Jaylen Brown, SG, Celtics: 18 points, one rebound, six assists, one steal, one block

Seth Curry, SG, Nets: 22 points, seven rebounds, one assist, one steal

Bruce Brown, SF, Nets: 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals

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Celtics' Hot Steak Continues

If you missed the game live, this pretty much sums up how the night unfolded.

TATUM DROPS THE HAMMER 🔨 https://t.co/hmFJGCKvB1

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 25, 2022

Neither Jayson Tatum nor Jaylen Brown had a signature performance because they didn't really need to.

Seven different players scored in double figures for Boston. The offensive balance was due in part to the team's steady ball movement. This unit is unrecognizable from the one whose issues led Marcus Smart to call out Tatum and Brown

Looks like that Pistons game may have been the aberration. Celtics look just like the team that won nine straight. Really sharing the ball well. Switching defense is connected on a string. Just rolling again.

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) February 25, 2022

I haven’t seen the Celtics move the ball like this all season. Their confidence is sky-high right now.

— Nicholas W. Goss (@NickGossNBCSB) February 25, 2022

Especially after jumping ahead so big in the first quarter, Boston could've taken its foot off the gas and coasted. Instead, the Celtics hit the accelerator in the second half. They smothered the Nets on defense and looked to score quickly in transition.

Sure, #Nets stink without their stars (like any team would), but the #Celtics defense continues to be dominant and their ball movement's sensational. They're hitting shots, knocking down open looks, capitalizing on free throws. That's important regardless of the opponent.

— Adam Kaufman (@AdamMKaufman) February 25, 2022

The Eastern Conference is there for the taking. The Nets have been a mess. The Milwaukee Bucks aren't hitting the level they did a year ago. The Philadelphia 76ers are still an unknown quantity with Joel Embiid and James Harden playing together.

Right now, the Celtics deserve to be in the conversation about the East's best team.

The Celtics:

— Best defense since December 1
— Best point differential in 2022
— 12-2 in last 14 games
— Only East team with winning record vs .500 teams pic.twitter.com/dM7QgtFKtq

— StatMuse (@statmuse) February 25, 2022

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Short-handed Nets Can't Keep Pace

The Nets were without Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on Thursday night, and it's still unclear when Ben Simmons will be able to make his Brooklyn debut. Especially with the Celtics playing as they were before the All-Star break, Steve Nash's squad was at a clear disadvantage in terms of firepower.

Bruce Brown has become a key role player for Brooklyn, but it's probably not a good sign when he's the leading scorer at halftime.

Patty Mills and Cam Thomas are a combined 1-for-13 from the field. As a team, the Nets are 19-for-49. The Celtics are shooting 56 percent from the field. KD can’t get back soon enough.

— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) February 25, 2022

Timeout, Nets: Brooklyn's in pass-the-sticks territory, now down 51-30 at home. It's ugly.

— Kristian Winfield (@Krisplashed) February 25, 2022

Seth Curry, who averaged 18.3 points in his first three games with his new team, at least continues to show why he could be a big difference-maker in the second half.

Back to getting buckets for @sdotcurry pic.twitter.com/YTEbn2Y3vp

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) February 25, 2022

Seth Curry pulls up in transition ✅ pic.twitter.com/aGbL9OgkmO

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 25, 2022

For the Nets, there aren't many conclusions to draw because the lineup could look significantly different in a few weeks.

Of course, Brooklyn only needs to look to the 2020-21 Los Angeles Lakers to see how a sluggish regular season can prove costly come playoff time. Theoretically this team should be great when everybody is healthy, but it may not be as simple as flipping a switch and running through the East in the postseason.

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What's Next?

The Nets hit the road to play the reigning champion Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday. The Celtics head to the Motor City on Saturday to play the Pistons in the second leg of their three-game road trip.

Boston Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca is among the American investors who've purchased a 55-percent ownership stake in Italian soccer club Atalanta.

Susy Campanale of Football Italia reported Saturday the agreement allows the Percassi family to remain the single largest shareholder with its 45-percent stake.

"Antonio and Luca Percassi will retain their respective roles of chairman and CEO of the club, while Stephen Pagliuca will be appointed co-chairman of the club," the Serie A team said in a statement.

Atalanta finished third in the 20-team top flight of Italian soccer last season. La Dea sit fifth in the Serie A table and will spend the remainder of the 2021-22 campaign trying to fight for a spot in the top four, which leads to a berth in next season's UEFA Champions League.

The club finished third in its group in this season's UCL behind England's Manchester United and Spain's Villarreal, sending it out of the competition and into the Europa League knockout playoffs.

Atalanta was founded in 1907, and the Percassi family said its goal with the sale to American investors is to help broaden the global appeal of the club, per Campanale.

Pagliuca also released a statement as part of the sale, saying the Italian side and the Celtics share a lot in common:

"We are thrilled to partner with the Percassi family and to support the future development of the club. Atalanta and Boston Celtics share the common sports values: teamwork and an extraordinary relationship with the fans and the community. We believe that the Percassi family has built very solid foundations on which to work together to strengthen the brand globally, with the aim of encouraging further diversification and growth of revenues, allowing the club to become more and more competitive on Italian and international scene."

Pagliuca, a 67-year-old New York City native who's made his fortune through the Bain Capital investment firm, serves as the managing partner and alternate governor of the Celtics.

No other members of the investment group were mentioned by name in the announcement.

Atalanta's next match is scheduled for Sunday when it visits Stadio Artemio Franchi to take on Fiorentina in Serie A.

Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum is happy the team didn't make a blockbuster deal before last week's NBA trade deadline that involved himself or guard Jaylen Brown.

Tatum explained Friday on The Old Man & The Three podcast the Celtics' core has enjoyed a lot of success and should have a bright future, saying the standout duo are "still very far from our prime:"

"I couldn't imagine why you wouldn't want to have two of the best players that are under 25 on your team."

Jayson Tatum on people who want to break up he and Jaylen Brown. pic.twitter.com/aifI64Xd6b

— TheYoungManAndTheThree (@OldManAndThree) February 18, 2022

Boston endured a sluggish start to the 2021-22 season and owned a lackluster 17-19 record when the calendar flipped to January. It raised questions about whether the front office would consider a significant roster-altering deal before the deadline.

Brown downplayed the idea he couldn't coexist with Tatum, saying they were on the "same page" and he remained confident in their long-term outlook.

"I think we can play together," Brown told reporters Jan. 8. "We have played together well for the majority of our career and things like that. The last year or so hasn't gone as expected, but I think a lot of the adversity that we're kind of going through now is going to help us grow and get better in the future."

The Celtics have proceeded to turn things around over the past six weeks. They're improved their record to 34-26, which ranks sixth in the closely contested Eastern Conference, and they enjoyed a recent nine-game winning streak leading up to the All-Star break.

Quietly, they've emerged as a potential NBA championship contender in the process, with ESPN's Basketball Power Index ranking them as the league's second-best team behind only the Phoenix Suns.

Boston did end up making a few deals before the deadline to bolster its roster for a possible playoff run, highlighted by the acquisition of guard Derrick White from the San Antonio Spurs, but the rumors of a possible Tatum or Brown deal faded away.

Even if the C's don't win a title this season, the roster will feature continuity over the next few years with Brown under contract through 2023-24 and Tatum through 2024-25. They don't have any high-impact free agents after the current campaign.

So, as frustrating as the early portion of the season was for the Celtics, they survived the rough patch and things are once again trending in the right direction.

Boston returns to action Thursday when it visits the Brooklyn Nets following the break.

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum lobbied for changes to how the All-NBA teams are determined after his omission last year proved costly.

Tatum, who's signed to a five-year, $163 million extension, missed out on an additional $32.6 million when he failed to qualify for an All-NBA team in 2020-21.

Appearing on JJ Redick's The Old Man and The Three podcast, the three-time All-Star lamented the lack of minimum requirements for a player to clear in order to get an All-NBA nod.

"There's no criteria set for the voters on who they should vote for," Tatum said at the 4:12 mark. "It's all opinion-based. ... It's all like, 'Well, you know, I like this guy a little bit more.'"

A little earlier in the interview (at the 2:48 mark), he explained how he typically tunes out outside praise or criticism, with one exception:

The only time I let it affect me, I remember last year when I was in the playoffs—or the playoffs might've been over—and everybody was coming out with their All-NBA ballots and podcasts and who they were voting for. I had $30 million on the line to make it. I specifically remember one person saying, "I'm not a fan of his shot selection, so I just couldn't put him on my All-NBA ballot.' And I was baffled.

Subjectivity always factors into a postseason award or individual honor race. It becomes an obvious issue when there are tangible—and very large—stakes at play.

Tatum's point is one echoed by those who have a say in the All-NBA discussion:

Every spot matters equally because All-NBA teams could determine if a player can receive the supermax. I don't agree with that. Media voting shouldn't impact player earnings, and for years I've argued for a change to the voting system to make it as fair as possible. It's flawed.

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) May 10, 2021

https://twitter.com/HowardBeck/status/1494447616591114241

As to Tatum's comments about the ambiguity of the All-NBA team, it will be tough to find a workable remedy.

Turning the ballots over to the players themselves likely isn't a solution based on how they vote for the All-Star Game.

Setting up firm statistical barriers may not appease anyone, either, because numbers alone don't tell the story of a player's impact on the court.

When Draymond Green last made an All-NBA team in 2016-17, he averaged 10.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 2.0 steals. On production alone, Green didn't look like a top-15 player, yet his value to the Golden State Warriors was apparent to anybody who watched the team that year.

In general, this is a problem shouldn't be left at the doorstep of the media but rather the NBA and National Basketball Players Association. The collective bargaining agreement is what ties supermax contracts to the All-NBA team.

Perhaps addressing that will be a point of contention for the players' union when the time comes to negotiate a new CBA.