The Boston Celtics may not be as dangerous of a 3-point shooting team as they have been in recent seasons after the departures of Al Horford, Jrue Holiday, and Kristaps Porzingis via trade and free agency this summer. But that did not stop Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez from taking away Boston’s options from beyond the arc in large stretches of their 113-105 win vs. Boston at TD Garden on Friday (Nov. 22) evening.
“I mean it got dicey, right?” asked Fernandez postgame. “Because they were down and they fought back. So give them credit, and we took all those punches, and then, we punched back.” The Celtics have remained in the top 10 teams in the NBA shooting the rock from deep this season (they have dropped to sixth from No. 1), but have not been as efficient in the wake of those absences noted above (dropping from 10th at 36.8% to 22nd at 34.6%).
Still, the Nets held the Celtics to just 32.0% from beyond the arc, which the Brooklyn coach made a point of noting, even though they lost the fourth quarter in terms of overall scoring. “That’s how you win games,” said Fernandez.
“I thought they did a good job being up to touch pick-and-rolls, creating two-on-ones,” said Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla on Brooklyn’s success taking away the trey from Boston.
“We made some good reads there, and regardless—whether it was an open shot or a layup, you know—we didn’t make it. But there was some good execution there, but they did a good job on their defensive coverages.”
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