Nets forward Ziaire Williams (right) fights for control of the ball with the Celtics' Jaylen Brown in the first half.
Nets forward Ziaire Williams (right) fights for control of the ball with the Celtics' Jaylen Brown in the first half.Yuki Iwamura/Associated Press
NEW YORK — As the Celtics plodded through the opening month of the season with some frustrating losses and doses of their new reality, they remained confident that their record was not an accurate reflection of their play.
And they vowed that with one made shot here and one better bounce there, they could quickly dig themselves out of the early hole they created.
Boston took one minor but notable step Tuesday, when it toppled the pesky Nets, 113-99, to secure a winning record for the first time this season, at 8-7.
Jaylen Brown had 29 points to lead the Celtics — 23 in the second half — and Payton Pritchard added 22 points and 10 rebounds, although Boston’s 19 turnovers put it in danger of a different outcome at times.
Michael Porter Jr. had 25 points to lead the Nets, who made just 12 of 38 field goals and 4 of 18 3-pointers during their grizzly 38-point second half.
Still, there were uneasy moments for the Celtics. Brooklyn whittled away at Boston’s 11-point third-quarter lead, and an opening was created when the Celtics started the fourth quarter with a four-minute scoring drought.
But after Brooklyn took a 90-89 lead on Porter’s 3-pointer, the Celtics needed just over a minute to unspool an essential 8-0 run that was capped by a Sam Hauser 3-pointer.
Boston led by 5 midway through the fourth when it gathered three offensive rebounds on one trip, finally capitalizing with a Derrick White 3-pointer.
Brown started the game by hitting a baseline jumper and a 21-footer, but the rest of his half was quiet, and some of that was out of his control.
The Celtics star played just 10 minutes in the first half despite not committing any fouls. He did miss both of his 3-pointers and committed three turnovers. But the team’s miscues hardly ended with him.
Boston entered Tuesday averaging a league-low 11 turnovers per game. And it topped that mark by registering 12 in just the first half, leading to 17 Nets points.
That’s how Boston went to halftime with just a 62-61 lead despite hitting 61.1 percent of its shots and 52.4 percent of its 3-pointers.
One of Brown’s early miscues led to Noah Clowney walking into his second 3-pointer in a row, part of an 11-0 Nets surge that gave them an early lead and led coach Joe Mazzulla to call timeout. Brooklyn started 5 for 6 from beyond the arc.
Pritchard almost single-handedly ensured that Boston’s missteps would not be disastrous. Following a month-long shooting slump, the Celtics guard’s scorching stretch rolled into its third game.
Pritchard was 13 for 23 from beyond the arc over his last two games and he was 5 for 8 in the first half Tuesday, with each one seemingly deeper than the last.
Still, the Celtics could not escape their issues taking care of the ball. With the score tied at 29 at the start of the second quarter, a bad pass by Anfernee Simons led to a Ziaire Williams dunk.
Simons had three turnovers in the quarter, but he offset those by registering five first-half assists and hitting 2 of 3 3-pointers. He played the entire second period.
It did not take long for Boston’s turnover issues to resurface after the break. It committed a shot-clock violation on its first possession and Brown traveled soon after.
Mazzulla swapped Josh Minott in for Jordan Walsh after just 75 seconds, and Minott gave the Celtics a lift with his 3-point shooting and hustle plays. But Brown, well-rested after his light first-half workload, took over.
His 3-point play followed by a 3-pointer ignited the 8-0 run that gave Boston a 75-65 lead. Later in the quarter, he was fouled on three consecutive possessions. Brown registered 17 points in the period.
Still, the Nets lingered. In the final 1:06, Williams and Tyrese Martin hit 3-pointers to help Brooklyn pull within 89-85 at the start of the fourth.
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.