Hard to place the blame on any one player in tonight's game -- the breakdowns were systemic, and frankly the Celtics made a lot of well-contested shots. Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Courtney Lee, and Rajon Rondo all feasted on open and contested looks, inside and out. After the Celtics jumped out to a 9-0 lead, the Nets never really had a shot. Thank goodness it's just preseason.
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Deron Williams: Williams drove the lane, pulled out his fair share of crossovers and spin moves, and got to the line on solid takes to the rim. The defense easily collapsed on him, though, and he struggled keeping Rajon Rondo in front of him. Threw the ball into defensive coverage often. Grade: C
Joe Johnson: He got open a lot on the weak side. Didn't shoot very well, but got good shots. Grade: B-
Gerald Wallace: No pass is safe when Crash is near the lane. Climbed up on the scorer's table in the first quarter chasing after a loose ball. Later had a nice chasedown block on a dribble-drive. Barring injury, it's hard to imagine him having a "bad" game; he'll miss shots on some nights but the effort is always there. Grade: B
Kris Humphries: *silence* Grade: D
Brook Lopez: Lopez's "rebound attempt percentage" or whatever metric Coach Johnson has him paying attention too was probably better than expected yet again. Lopez scored in the post and got to the line, going back-and-forth with Garnett and Jared Sullinger on multiple occasions. The Celtics played Lopez well in the post on a couple of occasions, doubling him from up-top (his blind side when posting on the right) and freezing him when he started a spin. Did get eaten up by Garnett in one-on-one situations, but that was more a product of Garnett hitting tough shots. Could stand to improve his help defense, though. Grade: B-
Andray Blatche: Yeah, he's cemented his backup 5 role. Grade: C+
MarShon Brooks: Had a couple of nice moves in his first game back -- Shammgod! -- but didn't do much in his time on the floor. Grade: C-
Tyshawn Taylor: Had another decent outing, but he's exhibited a tendency to keep his head down barreling to the basket. Had Joe Johnson open on a defensive rotation at least twice and didn't kick him the ball. Grade: B
Defense: The Celtics did hit a lot of contested shots, but they let Boston get to the rim way too easily and gave up far too many open threes. A discouraging outing, if you believe preseason matters. I withheld giving the Nets an F, but it was close. Grade: D-
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