Nets: Jeremiah Martin showed out in otherwise disappointing Celtics loss

Nets guard Jeremiah Martin put together a nice game against Boston.

It appears that the Brooklyn Nets upset hangover extended into their latest bubble clash on Wednesday night. As we know, they stunned the basketball world by toppling the Milwaukee Bucks, the best team in the NBA (based on record) in historic fashion just days earlier.

While the East’s No. 1 seed opted to rest the majority of its starters in the second half, there’s no denying that the Nets were the better team, and showed an incentive to win that was long overdue. Unfortunately, the good vibes stemming from that dub didn’t last very long, as they ran into a Boston Celtics side that was fresh off a humiliating loss to the Jimmy Butler-less Miami Heat.

In the end, Boston ran Brooklyn off the court en route to a 149-115 rout. Given that lopsided scoreline, it would normally be damn near impossible to find any positive takeaways. However, Nets fans should be feeling good about the performance that Jeremiah Martin delivered.

For the game, Martin finished with 20 points and four assists on an incredibly efficient 8-for-12 shooting in just 16 minutes off the bench. The fact that the 24-year-old guard played so well against the Celtics defense, which ranks third in the NBA allowing just 107.5 points per game this season, makes his cameo all the more impressive, and proves that he deserves more playing time.

With that being said, it’s not going to be easy for Martin to log heavy minutes, as Brooklyn gave 12 of its 13 available players more than 10 minutes against Boston.

Assuming the Nets are more competitive than they were on Wednesday, chances are that interim head coach Jacque Vaughn doesn’t empty his bench once the playoffs come around. That could open the door for the undrafted Memphis product, who was already playing pretty regularly, to earn a legitimate spot in the rotation for the rest of this season, and moving forward into the future.