It Took Celtics’ Brad Stevens ‘Couple Of Minutes’ To See Nets ‘Were Special’

Everything is a learning experience.

Especially after preseason games in the NBA where your team was handed a lopsided loss.

That was the case for the Boston Celtics last week when the Brooklyn Nets defeated them 113-89 last Friday.

Of course, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant led the effort, playing together on the Nets for the first time after the latter missed last season due to a torn Achilles. But the depth of Brooklyn’s two units stood out to Celtics coach Brad Stevens almost instantly.

“I mean, I think they’ve got a couple guys who aren’t in their rotation who were starters last year in the league. And it tells you all you really need to know,” Stevens said in his pregame media availability Friday before the Celtics hosted the Nets.

“Their two lineups in the way that they play and the way that they compliment each other, 48 minutes of really good play at the center spot, surrounded by versatile and skilled players all around the court to compliment their best players. So it’s a really good team. As I said last week, all it took was a couple of minutes watching them to know that they were special. Everybody that plays them is going to have their hands full. Us included today.”

Brooklyn’s bench scored 52 of its 89 points in the preseason game, led by Caris LeVert’s 18 points.

On Christmas Day, the Celtics will benefit from having Tristan Thompson in their lineup, who was still recovering from a hamstring strain and did not play in preseason against the Nets.

Tip off is at 5 p.m. ET.