: The Warriors know Celtics face a rough road in their quest to repeat as NBA champions Maintaining that faith and also matching the Nets intensity is what secured the game. It’s OK to eke out wins. It’s an 82-game season. The Celtics are not going to cruise every night. The goal is to be open-minded and versatile enough to play your hardest when not at your best. “I don’t think the guys make a decision to say, ‘We’re gonna let them outplay us,’ ” Mazzulla said. “Sometimes you just have to give perspective to the guys. Sometimes we’re playing well and things are just not going the way they usually go. The other team has a great coach and great players as well. Advertisement “I just thought we made enough plays to kind of chip away at it. It’s a testament to the team because you have to find ways to win ugly and this is how it is over the course of a long year.” Ben Simmons (left) and the Nets scrapped throughout the game against Payton Pritchard and the Celtics, who benefited greatly from Pritchard's 20 points off the bench. Barry Chin/Globe Staff It has become evident the Celtics are going to need full health to be as consistently dominant as they seek. Jaylen Brown missed his fourth consecutive game with a strained left hip flexor while Luke Kornet sat with hamstring soreness. And for the second consecutive game they were caught off guard by the opponent’s intensity. They stumbled into this game, looking completely disinterested and the sellout crowd followed suit. “It’s not an excuse at all but a perspective, one of the reasons why we were good last year is because these are the types of games that we win,” Mazzulla said. “When you’re down three rotation players (including Kristaps Porzingis) you have to find ways to win. No one cares we have guys out. It doesn’t matter and anyone in that locker room have to know we have an expectation to win regardless of who’s on the floor. If (expletive’s) not going your way, you’ve just got to figure it out. I like that mentality of them. We had about 18 of those (kinds of games) last year and this was one tonight.” Changing the mentality to become the harder playing team in the middle of the game is difficult. The game rewarded the Nets through the first three quarters because they wanted to win the game more. They battered the Celtics on the boards, and received big shots from scoring maven Cam Thomas while former Celtic Dennis Schroder sliced into the paint for layups. Related