BOSTON -- Brooklyn Nets coach Jacque Vaughn didn't allow his team to point fingers following a blowout loss to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.
Mainly because Vaughn stepped in and put the blame on his shoulders for the Nets getting shellacked by the Celtics, 139-96, on the TD Garden parquet.
"I told the group that I'm disappointed in the fact that I did not have them ready to play," Vaughn said postgame. "(End of first quarter) 46-16, we've been a group who pretty much has been focused and ready to play. It was a great challenge for us on the road where they hit first."
Vaughn added: "I give Boston a lot of credit tonight. They brought it to us."
The Celtics turned it into a rout six minutes into the game as a barrage of 3-pointers propelled Boston to a 24-4 advantage. The triples kept coming as Jayson Tatum scored 18 points in the opening frame, which was more than the Nets as a whole.
Even with the Nets trailing by 30 after 12 minutes, there was still three quarters left to play. But the Nets didn't even mount a semblance of a response, with Brooklyn never getting the lead below 20 points after those opening six minutes.
"This is part of the NBA sometimes," Vaughn said. "This was a night where they hit first, they hit hard and it hurt. We weren't able to get off the mat like we needed to and respond like we have in the past. So, you take this one on the chin and you keep moving, learn from it."
And to get the Nets to move forward, Vaughn is putting the one-sided defeat squarely on himself, fully believing he let down his squad in several areas as they went to up against the best team in the NBA.
"I was disappointed in myself," Vaughn said. "I'm always (going to) hold myself to a standard that I want to hold them to. (To have it) 46-16 from the first quarter, I'll take the blame for all of it. For not having them detailed to the game plan, disciplined that it takes to get hit on the road and respond. So little bit of everything. I got to do my part."
Vaughn falling on the sword in front of the media was no act, either, as Nets star guard Kyrie Irving reiterated what the coach had said.
"He took accountability for not having us as prepared as he could have had us," Irving said. "Obviously, he can only control what he can control. Felt like we had a good game plan coming in, but they just didn't feel us physically-wise in that first quarter and they end up putting 46 points up. I feel like after the first quarter that was pretty much the game. ... You got to be able to accept winning and losing, but specifically when we lose, there are definitely some tough lessons that you just got to swallow and move forward."
