Nets to get measuring stick against defending champion Celtics

By his own admission, the memory is not top-of-mind for Dorian Finney-Smith.

It is not particularly fresh because time has passed. But it lingers.

Which is why the nine-year forward said he talked to a few teammates about what took place 267 days earlier at the TD Garden.

And his message was?

“Just how bad they kicked our [expletive],” Finney-Smith said of the Nets’ 136-86 loss to the Celtics on Feb. 14, following practice Thursday at the Hospital For Special Surgery Training Center.

The 50-point loss was the second worst in franchise history and it caused almost immediate repercussions. The blowout occurred in the Nets’ last game before the All-Star break and four days later, then-head coach Jacques Vaughn was fired with Kevin Ollie being named the interim coach for the remainder of the season.

It was a low point in a season that didn’t have an especially high amount of bright ones.

“Around that time it’s tough for guys to stay locked in mentally,” Finney-Smith said. “Especially when you know you ain’t in the playoff run and you [are] kind of outside looking in. It was tough last year. But like I said, it’s over with. We're trying to get this win tomorrow.”

The Nets (4-4) begin what all involved acknowledge is a measuring stick road trip Friday at the TD Garden against the defending NBA champion Celtics. Following that game, they will meet the unbeaten Cavaliers Saturday and visit New Orleans Monday.

“It’s a good challenge because we’re about to play three really good teams, starting with Boston,” Nets' first-year coach Jordi Fernandez said. “We’re [going to] face something that we haven’t faced yet and I think that’s the cool thing of a new group: Getting those challenges in front of you and how you respond to those challenges. We definitely have to go one game at a time. We don’t need to think about the back-to-back, per se. We have to think about Boston and since they won the NBA championship last year, I think we should be excited enough to go play that team.”

The Celtics (7-2) are coming off a 118-112 home loss to Golden State Wednesday night, a game in which they did not have Jaylen Brown (injured hip). Boston is also without the services of Kristaps Porzingis, who is still recuperating from offseason left ankle tendon surgery.

Even without two-fifths of their starting lineup, the Celtics are formidable. Boston is second in the league in scoring (122.3 points per game), first in three-pointers made (171), second in free throw percentage (82.1) and eighth in three-point field goal percentage (37.1).

Or to put it another way . . .

“They’ve been beating the [expletive] out of a lot of people,” Finney-Smith said. “They [have] shooters, got a bunch of shooting, shoot a bunch of threes, they’re going to crash the glass. It’s going to be a good game. A great challenge.”

So, then, what are the keys to leaving Boston with a win?

In Ziaire Williams’ mind, simply staying the course.

“Playing hard, playing physical, playing fast,” Williams said. “With the team we [have], we feel like that’s our best opportunity to win games.”

Net-cetera

Trendon Watford (hamstring) won’t play on the road trip but will travel with the team, and Noah Clowney (hip) may play on the trip while Day’Ron Sharpe (hamstring) remains status quo, Fernandez said.