The Nets got a reminder just how big the gap is between themselves and the NBA’s best.
Far too big to spot a team this good a lead that big.
Brooklyn dug itself a hole and fell, 118-110, Tuesday to the league-leading Celtics before a sellout crowd of 18,053 at Barclays Center.
They got eviscerated by superstar Jayson Tatum, watching helplessly as he torched them for a game-high 41 points. They listened as the crowd — their crowd — showered him with chants of “M-V-P! M-V-P!”
And after it was done, he ripped off his shirt and strode off the court minus jersey.
He’d made himself at home in the Nets’ building. And when they tried to claw back, they never had answers to stop him.
Mikal Bridges had a team-high 27 points for Brooklyn, and Cam Thomas added 26.
But the Nets allowed 51.8 percent shooting, never able to slow the Celtics.
And now comes the hard part, the return leg of this back-to-back Wednesday night at TD Garden.
Brooklyn (21-32) trailed by as much as 23 in the third quarter before clawing within six multiple times in the fourth.
But they couldn’t get over the hump and finished the home-heavy portion of their schedule on a downer. They failed to fatten up on home cooking, and now have to head out on the road with the toughest test imaginable.
The Nets finished just 6-12 in an 18-game stretch in which they have played 13 home games.
Now they’ll have to play 14 of their next 20 on the road.
“Yeah, a great challenge for us to be totally locked into a team that’s one of the best in the league,” coach Jacque Vaughn had warned beforehand. “And there’s a few areas that we definitely have to take care of that we didn’t the previous two times we played them.
“Part of that is transition defense, not giving up early opportunities to guys who can attack the rim, the ability to rebound. I think they had 17 offensive rebounds in one of those games, so giving them extra opportunities, keeping them away from our rim, and doing it without fouling. So, there’s the recipe: How focused and committed can we be every single possession, 100 percent of the time?”
Tatum gave Boston s 93-70 cushion on a running dunk off a feed from Jaylen Brown with 4:19 left in the third quarter. But the Nets spent the rest of the evening giving chase, and nearly caught them.
It was still 98-80 after a Luke Kornet free throw with a minute left in the period when Brooklyn mounted a 13-1 run that spanned the third and fourth.
Bridges’ dunk off a Thomas assist capped the run and cut the deficit to 99-93 with 7:55 left.
But Brooklyn never got any closer.
Bridges drilled a 3-pointer off a feed by Jalen Wilson with 2:07 to play to cut it back to six, 114-108.
But Boston held them at arm’s length the rest of the night.
The Celtics (42-12) are 16-6 over their past 22 and now have their fifth five-game winning streak of the season.