The slumping Nets were beaten badly in Boston Wednesday night in their final game before the NBA’s All-Star break. AP Photo by Charles Krupa
The Brooklyn Nets will enter the NBA All-Star break on a heartbreaking Valentine’s Day downer after suffering the second-worst loss in franchise history Wednesday night in front of 19,156 fans at Boston’s TD Garden.
After winning at Barclays Center for the eighth straight time a night earlier, the league-leading Celtics reminded the Nets just how far they were from seriously competing with the NBA’s elite.
Payton Prichard scored 28 points off the bench and Derrick White added 27 as Boston improved to 16-1, including a sweep in the 2022 playoffs, in its last 17 meetings with Brooklyn by cruising to a 136-86 whomping in the final game for both teams before the league’s week-long hiatus.
“We have work to do,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said after watching his team fall behind by as many as 56 points before the Celtics tried to call of the dogs in this one-sided affair.
“We have to be OK doing the work,” he added. “I do believe this team can do the work.”
Jayson Tatum, who put up 41 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in Brooklyn on Tuesday, only logged 28 minutes in the home-and-home, back-to-back rematch.
The Net killer still amassed 20 points, pulled down seven boards and handed out nine assists for Boston (43-12), which hasn’t lost to Brooklyn in its own arena since April 23, 2021.
Trendon Watford led all Nets scorers with 15 points off the bench, Mikal Bridges added 10 and reserve guard Keon Johnson finished with nine as Brooklyn trailed 30-15 after 12 minutes and an embarrassing 68-32 at intermission.
The Nets will enter the break a season-worst 12 games below .500 and 2 1/2 games behind 10th-place Atlanta for the final spot in the Eastern…
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