Final: Celtics 112, Nets 104 -- Fourth quarter lockdown defense leads to win

Without star point guard Kyrie Irving (sore hip), the Celtics used scoring balance and their defense to take down the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night, holding the Nets to just nine points in the first nine minutes of the frame, which helped them pull away for a 112-104 victory.

Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown (21 points) led six different Celtics who scored in double figures as Boston did well finding seams inside Brooklyn's 2-3 zone defense for much of the night, despite a rough shooting evening from 3-point range (32 percent). Aron Baynes had 16 points off the bench while Al Horford had his third straight double-double to go with a season-high six blocks

D'Angelo Russell had a game-high 25 points for the visitors as the Celtics snapped Brooklyn's six-game winning streak.  The Celtics have now won 11 of their last 12 games at the TD Garden and will go for their 12th on Wednesday night upon hosting the Hornets.

First Half Notes

• Very sloppy start on both ends before the C's get their offense in gear with three straight 3s in a two-minute span.


• Nets starting frontcourt had a very rough time to begin the game, going 0-of-6 from the field in opening 12 minutes.


• Brooklyn going with a lot of 2-3 zone to start the game, which is drawing a lot of 3s from the C's. Over half of their shots in the first quarter came from downtown.


• Marcus Smart was the main zone breaker early on, knocking down 3-of-5 from downtown for a team-high 11 points in the opening frame.


• Jayson Tatum in a bit of shooting rut from the perimeter (1-of-6) in opening 13 minutes.


• Some big production from Boston product (Shabazz Napier) off the bench who made his first four shots and had 11 points in first 16 minutes of the game.


• Gordon Hayward had to head to the locker room after just five minutes of play to get a cut stitched up. Same went for Marcus Smart who took a shot to his eyebrow.


• Monster half for Aron Baynes who finished with 14 points and 5 rebounds in just 10 minutes, providing a huge offensive boost with his shooting and on the offensive glass.


• Eight second half turnovers from the

• Kyrie Irving was a late scratch for the Celtics on the heels of a 40-minute night against the Warriors on Saturday. He has a hip strain according to the team and the C's will start Terry Rozier in his place.


• The Nets will be missing several key rotation pieces including Spencer Dinwiddie, Jared Dudley and Allen Crabbe. Sharpshooter Joe Harris is questionable with a hip strain.


• The Nets are currently the second hottest team in the NBA, having won six straight games and eight of their last ten overall to move into the No. 6 seed in the East.


• Boston and Brooklyn have split the team's two meetings this year. The Nets beat the Celtics without Irving on January 14th in Brooklyn.