Daniel Donabedian, Celtics WireSat, November 22, 2025 at 4:42 AM UTC·3 min readBOSTON — The 2025-26 Boston Celtics don't have a surplus of talent, so they have to make up for that deficit in other ways. Their typical strategy thus far has been to overpower opponents with effort. However, that didn't work on Friday night against the Brooklyn Nets, as the C's fell to their Atlantic Division foe, 113-105, at TD Garden.
Although the Celtics defeated the Nets on Tuesday night in Brooklyn, they couldn't replicate the performance three days later. Boston's defense looked porous at times, allowing 40 points in the second quarter alone to the now 3-12 Nets.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Celtics still had a chance to escape with a victory in the end, but Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. burned them with 16 points in the last 12 minutes of the contest. He converted on 7 of his 8 shot attempts in the fourth quarter and was just 5 points shy of the Celtics' 21-point output in the final frame.
While Porter Jr. led the Nets with 33 points, four-time All-Star Jaylen Brown recorded a team-high 26 points for the Celtics. He didn't hide the fact that he was dissatisfied with his team's effort.
"We need to play with an edge, defensively and offensively," Brown stated during his postgame press conference. "You 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 of an edge. And they deserved to win tonight."
Since the Celtics lost multiple key players last offseason — and star forward Jayson Tatum is out indefinitely while rehabbing a ruptured Achilles — they can't afford to produce a middling level of effort, even versus a struggling team like the Nets. Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla is aware of this dilemma and realizes his roster doesn't have the wide margin for error it did just a year ago.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"I think the margin for error is smaller for certain teams," Mazzulla admitted. "The margin for error is smaller for us. We have to be the best — we have to be sharp physically and mentally every night. We've understood that that's a strength of ours when we're at our best. And, you know, we have to try to play our best."
The 8-8 Celtics will need nothing short of their best to survive their upcoming schedule, featuring five straight games against playoff teams from last season. Boston will open that difficult stretch with the 9-7 Orlando Magic on Sunday afternoon.
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: The Celtics tiny margin for error was apparent in loss to lowly Nets
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