Kyrie Irving Speaks on Nets' Need to 'Stand Up' to Celtics

The Brooklyn Nets (31-20) have severely struggled to get over the top when matching up with one of their top Eastern Conference foes, the Boston Celtics (37-15). That story continued on Wednesday night at TD Garden as Brooklyn's tough challenge ended in a crushing defeat. 

The depleted Nets suffered the sixth-largest defeat in franchise history. In fact, it was a Boston Massacre from the opening tip to the final buzzer. 

All in all, Brooklyn's 10th-straight loss to the reigning Eastern Conference champions shined a bright light on the task at hand: To not being 'one of those teams in the way' of the Celtics. Instead, being 'one of those teams that stands up to them.' 

"When you're going up against a very motivated team such as the Boston Celtics, they have a chip on their shoulder. It's clear as day they want to win the championship, and they're not wasting any time in the regular season," Kyrie Irving said postgame. "We're just one of those teams in the way, and we just can't be one of those teams in the way. We've got to be one of those teams that stands up to them.

"At least show them that we're going to be competition for them moving forward, which I believe we are, but tonight didn't show it. Can't hang our heads. We got to keep our heads up and just get ready for this next homestand that we have." 

The Nets, who were missing Kevin Durant, T.J. Warren, and Ben Simmons had the odds stacked against them heading into the rowdy and passionate TD Garden environment. In a loss that the team certainly won't take much from rather than taking the damage on the chin, the Celtics capitalized on what Brooklyn was missing in their devastating 2022 NBA Playoff Sweep: length and size. 

"Obviously it's disappointing. I would love to come to Boston and beat them. Even when they come to our house in Brooklyn, I'd love to beat them," Irving said. "Just take lessons and as one of the leaders, see where I can continue to prepare better and lead a better example out there." 

It doesn't take much browsing of the box score to see how lopsided the Wednesday night matchup turned out to be. Outside of trailing by a season-high 49 points during the contest, it was the ugly start from the Nets that did the most damage. 

"I told the group, I'm disappointed in the fact I did not have them ready to play," head coach Jacque Vaughn stated postgame. "46-16 [first quarter scoring differential], we've been a group that's pretty much focused and ready to play - they made some tough shots. They got going early. That was the difference in the game." 

Brooklyn gave up 46 first-quarter points to Boston. To carve even deeper into the woeful start, Celtics forward Jayson Tatum outscored the Nets 18-16 alone in the opening frame. From there on, it got uglier. 

Boston's hot shooting lingered and mismatch-hunted Brooklyn's smaller guards - Seth Curry, Irving, and Cam Thomas - to boost their offense. Overall, the defeat raised the question on most fans' minds; whether even at full strength with the needed pieces of scoring [no bigger than Durant] and length available, can the Nets give the Celtics a run for their money in another postseason series? 

“I think it caught us off guard a little bit. Being on the road, they made shots. At the same time, we had some really good looks open early. And then that becomes a mental challenge of how you're going to respond,” said head coach Jacque Vaughn postgame. "This is part of the NBA sometimes. This was a night where they hit first, they hit hard, and it hurt. And we weren’t able to get off the mat like we needed to.”