BOSTON -- Lionel Hollins wants to foster a culture of toughness and aggressiveness with Brooklyn, especially on the defensive end.
If Wednesday night’s regular-season opener was any indication, the new Nets coach has his work cut out for him.
In what came as a surprise, the Nets were blown out of TD Garden by the rebuilding Boston Celtics, 121-105. Brooklyn allowed Boston to shoot 61.4 percent from the field and score 101 points through the first three quarters. The Nets surrendered 62 points in the paint and trailed by as many as 29.
“We just looked like crap out there,” Nets guard Deron Williams said, succinctly.
During the preseason, Williams said the Nets were “lazy” on defense and he was “disappointed” in the team’s performance on that end of the floor. The games matter in the standings now, yet nothing’s changed.
It was more of the same miscommunication and lack of effort. The Nets couldn’t defend the pick-and-roll, allowed the Celtics to get easy straight-line drives to the basket, didn’t rotate over to Boston's shooters on the weak side of the floor, and were abused down low.
They didn’t resemble the defensive juggernaut Hollins cultivated in Memphis -- not by a long shot.
“It was like open gate, and all the sheep got out of the gate,” Hollins said. “It was layup after layup. They had 62 points in the paint, and most of them were non-contested.”
Eight Celtics scored in double figures. Kelly Olynyk (19 points) took advantage of Mason Plumlee and Kevin Garnett inside, while Rajon Rondo eased his way to 13 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds.
Mirza Teletovic and Bojan Bogdanovic simply looked lost at times.
Hollins said it wouldn’t have mattered if Brook Lopez (right midfoot sprain) was out there. Perhaps he is right, but the Nets definitely could’ve used Lopez on offense. They had 21 turnovers, which led to 25 Boston points.
“I don’t want to say it’s good, it’s never good to lose like this,” Williams said. “But that should open our eyes up a little bit, and show us that if we don’t come ready to play, we’re gonna get beat.”
“It’s embarrassing,” he added. “We gotta play better than that.”
The Nets trailed 52-40 late in the second quarter when Hollins picked up a technical foul. But instead of igniting his team with the T, the Celtics countered with a 15-1 run to take a 26-point lead into the locker room at halftime.
“I was trying to fight for them, but they’ve gotta fight for themselves,” Hollins said.
The Nets have some All-Star caliber players and the NBA’s highest payroll, but their hopes of proving their critics wrong in 2014-15 will come down to defense and rebounding.
They did win the rebounding battle by four on Wednesday, but that was of no consolation at all.
The Nets have yet another new coach, and are learning yet another new system. The concern is that it could take them a while to figure it all out. And they can’t afford to get off to another 10-21 start.
It’s only one loss, in Game No. 1 of the season, if -- as Garnett said -- they don’t allow it to fester.
After an off-day Thursday, the Nets will head into Friday’s practice trying to correct their myriad issues before Saturday’s game in Detroit.
“We looked at the tape at halftime, and it was brutal to even watch,” swingman Joe Johnson said. “And then to come out in the second half and basically duplicate the same thing is mind-boggling. But it’s the first game, so we’ll try to put this one behind us and move forward.”