Wednesday’s first quarter between the Celtics and Nets looked more like a matchup between the Globetrotters and Generals.
In a game it eventually won, 139-96, Boston (37-15) toyed with Brooklyn (31-20) every way imaginable early. The Celtics built a 21-3 edge in the first four-plus minutes, extended it to 35-7 and led by a preposterous margin of 46-16 through one.
Let that sink in for a second. Forty-six to 16. It was a massacre.
“A couple days off did us well,” Jayson Tatum told ESPN’s Katie George. “We just were fresh, locked in and ready to go from the start.