The Boston Celtics dropped to 8-8 in 2025-26 with a shocking 113-105 loss to the lowly Brooklyn Nets at the TD Garden in the NBA Cup on Friday. The Celtics dug themselves into a hole in the second and third quarters that they weren’t able to come out of, and Jaylen Brown sent out a stern message postgame when asked about his initial thoughts on the loss.
“Come ready to play, or don’t come at all,” Brown said, via Justin Turpin. “That’s my whole thing. We’ve gotta come ready to play. We just went through the motions today. I don’t understand it.”
These teams had played just a couple of days ago, with the Celtics winning 113-99 at Barclays Center. The Nets had actually led at one point in the fourth quarter in that contest, and so, you’d have thought the hosts wouldn’t underestimate them in the rematch, but they might have.
The Celtics led 28-22 after the first quarter, but completely lost their way after that. The Nets took a 62-53 lead into halftime and pushed it up to 92-77 at the end of the third quarter.
The Celtics finally showed some fight in the fourth quarter, as they cut that lead down to 96-94, but Michael Porter Jr. then took over. Porter had 16 points in the fourth quarter and 33 in total for the game to power the Nets to an unlikely victory that saw them improve to 3-12.
Brown proved to be one of the few positives for the Celtics on the night. The 29-year-old had 26 points (9-18 FG), eight rebounds, four assists, and two steals, and stressed the importance of being ready to play later in his press conference as well.
“At the end of the day, we’ve all got a job to do,” Brown stated. “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 got to come here and be ready to do a job and have great energy, enthusiasm, and want to win. That’s what it’s about at the end of the day. Celtic basketball.”
Brown didn’t get much help from the likes of Derrick White and Payton Pritchard in this one. White had six points (2-13 FG), while Pritchard had 13 (5-13 FG).
Many had expected White to shine as the second option for this Celtics team this season, but he has had a rough campaign so far. He’s now averaging 15.3 points on 34.8% shooting from the field.
The Celtics aren’t going to make much noise if White keeps this up. Brown, who is averaging 27.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game, is doing his part, but there is only so much even he can do.
With this loss, the Celtics also dropped to 1-2 in the cup, and it looks unlikely that they’ll make it to the knockouts. They face the red-hot Detroit Pistons in their last group stage game on Nov. 26, and you wouldn’t fancy their chances in that one.
As for the Celtics’ next game, they take on the Orlando Magic at TD Garden on Sunday at 6 PM ET.
