BOSTON — For more than three quarters, all we know and all we believe was being seriously challenged. For more than three quarters, the Earth spun off its axis, Columbus discovered shaving cream, the square root of nine was a six-pack of slate shingles.
For more than three quarters, the Nets led the Celtics.
But then normalcy returned to the world. Eddie House, who had missed his first five shots, hit four in a row for the Celtics and the Nets went into one of their trademark offensive blackouts. The Nets continued their march toward historic ignominy as they shot 5 of 20 in a 14-point, four-turnover fourth quarter and fell to 4-45 when the Celtics claimed a 96-87 victory last night.
“We were right there,” said Devin Harris (17 points, eight assists, 6-of-15 shooting) with a sigh. “We had some ill-advised shots in that first part of the fourth, and then we turned the ball over, gave them some easy layups. It’s a learning process. You’ve got to take the bangs on the head to get where we want to be.”
Figure the headaches are intolerable by now.
“We played 43, 44 minutes of really good basketball, lots of energy,” interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe said. “We got a couple of really bad breaks.”
One came in the third quarter when Brook Lopez, who finished with 19 points in an uneven game, and Kris Humphries converged on a defensive rebound — and bumped the ball into the Celts’ basket. Still, the Nets, losers of five straight, led after three quarters for only the eighth time all year. But again, they could not finish.
“We were doing the same thing we’ve been doing for the last week and a half,” Lopez said, “playing good defense . . .”
But losing. But they never quit. The Nets, who visit Detroit tonight, stared at an apparent 10-point deficit after House (10 points) hit a 3-pointer with 3:50 left. But the referees overturned it, ruling for a 24-second violation instead. Courtney Lee promptly hit a corner trey at 3:32 and the 6-point turnaround cut the Celtics’ lead to 88-84.
No matter. Kendrick Perkins scored inside, the Nets missed, Ray Allen (26 points) hit a dagger 3-pointer and Boston led, 93-84, with 2:00 left.
So again, they had nothing to show for their effort. This is not the way to avoid breaking the 1972-73 Sixers’ NBA season record (9-73) for futility. The Nets insist they are committed to avoid that standard.
“It’s very important. Nobody wants that on their resume, on their career log,” Jarvis Hayes said. “We’ve got to do everything possible to not be a part of that at all costs.”
Lopez said he has heard about it every day and shudders to think it could be reality.
“No one wants to be known for that,” Lopez said. “That will stick with you for the rest of your career.”
The Nets figured the Sixers’ record was unbreakable. Nine wins for an entire season looked like a misprint.
“I had a 19-win season with the Clippers — I thought that was bad,” said Keyon Dooling, who returned after sitting out two games with aching hips. “I would sign up for that right now. I didn’t think it’d get any worse than that.”
And they receive no sympathy from opponents.
“Everyone in this locker room has gone through something like that at one time or another,” Allen said. “I don’t feel sorry for them. It’s a rite of passage in the NBA. You have to go through something like that to ultimately be successful.”
Early, it looked like the Celtics missed Paul Pierce, who was sidelined because of a strained left foot. They were scoring – they shot 47.5 percent in the half. But defensively, they showed little as the Nets shot 63.3 percent and led, 55-51, at halftime.