“Come ready to play, or don’t come at all.” That was Jaylen Brown’s top takeaway from arguably the Celtics’ most disappointing defeat of the season to date. Brown believed Boston did not play with enough effort or enthusiasm Friday night against a Nets team that came in with a 2-12 record. The result: a 113-105 home loss at TD Garden, during which the Celtics trailed by as many as 18 points. “We’ve got to come ready to play,” Brown said postgame. “We just went through the motions today. Like, I don’t understand.” In Brown’s eyes, the Celtics were missing their necessary “edge” for “the majority of the game.” It was evident in the opening minutes, when they fell behind by seven points while missing 15 of their first 20 shots. It was clear shortly before halftime, when Anfernee Simons, Payton Pritchard and Josh Minott committed three turnovers in a three-minute span to close out a 40-point second quarter for Brooklyn. It was obvious after Brown was called for his fifth foul with 5: 52 remaining in the third quarter. The Nets, who led by three at the time, proceeded to rip off a 19-4 run to break the game open. Boston rallied in the fourth, getting to within two with five minutes to play, but wilted down the stretch. “Regardless of if you’re making or missing shots, regardless of anything, we’ve just got to come out and play with great energy, great enthusiasm for the game like, want to win,” said Brown, who totaled 26 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals in 32 minutes. “It just didn’t seem like that was the case tonight.” Brooklyn’s two wins before Friday came against the only teams below them in the Eastern Conference standings: the 2-14 Pacers and the 1-14 Wizards. The Celtics, now 8-8, had won three straight and eight of their last 12, including a road win over the Nets on Tuesday, though they also trailed in the fourth quarter of that one. Brown and other veteran Celtics have spoken this season candidly about the current state of the team’s roster. They’re less talented, they admit, after losing Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, Luke Kornet and the injured Jayson Tatum, and thus have a much slimmer margin for error than previous Boston teams. These Celtics are trying to overcome their lack of talent by wearing opponents down with high intensity and constant effort. Fail to bring that, and results like Friday’s will happen. “We need to play with an edge defensively and offensively,” Brown said. “Like, we’ve got to be the harder-playing team. That can’t be negotiable. And tonight, we weren’t. Brooklyn was the harder-playing team. They played with more edge, and they deserved to win tonight.” Brown praised young wings Jordan Walsh and Hugo Gonzalez for the pressure they applied Walsh was the only Boston starter to finish with a positive plus/minus, and Gonzalez was a plus-12 in his five-minute fourth-quarter cameo but said the team as a whole “just lacked energy.” It was “just a lackluster game from the Celtics,” he said “At the end of the day, we’ve all got a job to do,” Brown said. “We’re all getting paid to do what we love to do. Come ready to play basketball, or you’re doing a disservice, so everybody’s got to come here and be ready to do their job and have great energy, enthusiasm and want to win. That’s what it’s about at the end of the day: Celtic basketball.” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said the Nets “just played better than we did.” “And regardless of record or not, we have to play at such a different level physically, mentally,” he added. “We have to play at a different level to be at our best. If we don’t play at that level physically or mentally at our best, we could lose any night to anybody.” The Celtics will host the Magic on Sunday (6 p. m.) to begin a stretch of five straight games against likely playoff teams.
https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/11/22/jaylen-brown-calls-out-celtics-teammates-after-loss-to-lowly-nets/
Jaylen Brown calls out Celtics teammates after loss to lowly Nets
