Final: Celtics 126, Nets 91 - C's dominate early minutes, cruise to wire-to-wire blowout

GAME 56
Boston Celtics (30-25, 12-15 road, T-7th East) vs. Brooklyn Nets (29-24, 12-13 home, T-7th East)
Barclays Center
7:30 PM - TNT

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

Boston: Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, Robert Williams

Brooklyn: Kessler Edwards, James Johnson, Blake Griffin, Patty Mills, Bruce Brown

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Kevin Durant (knee), James Harden (hamstring), Kyrie Irving (ineligible to play in NYC) are out tonight. Brooklyn is also missing Nic Claxton (hamstring), LaMarcus Aldridge (ankle), Joe Harris (ankle), and Paul Millsap (personal reasons)

“Injury and COVID situations have hit people at different times,” Ime Udoka said. “We were hit pretty hard early, including training camp, and so we kind of got off to a slow start. Obviously, Brooklyn's going through that now on the injury front and seems like it's happened to everybody at some time this season.”

As Nets head coach Steven Nash said, “you Have a choice: am I going to be a great teammate and a force for finding solutions, or are we going to pull apart?” 

The Nets are in a bad place. Can they keep it together to give Boston a tough game?

- Boston is favored by 9.5

GOING A LITTLE DEEPER

- Keeping it together during trade season is tough

The NBA is a business. As much as loyalty and family is preached from every corner of the league, the cold reality of the business of basketball hits hard this time of year for players subjected to constant rumors. 

“I’ve been hearing this for eight years now – or nine years, sorry. So whenever it happens, it happens,” Dennis Schroder said. “It is what it is. It’s a business but I like the guys, the organization; I love them. So end of the day, when I go somewhere else, that’s how the business goes. But I love the guys here and if I’m staying here, of course that would be better.”

Schroder is the prime candidate to be moved, but he’s not alone in rumors. Marcus Smart, Josh Richardson, Grant Williams, and even Jaylen Brown have been mentioned in some form or other as we approach the Thursday deadline. 

“People are obviously inquiring and discussing what we like, what’s going on,” Udoka said. “Obviously there’s tons of options and people are calling, but like I said, until something happens, we’ll focus on what we have in-house and how we’re playing, which is obviously pretty high level right now.”

This is Boston’s last game before the deadline, which means there could be new people to meet, or rotational changes to discuss before Friday’s game against the Denver Nuggets. 

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. Early energy: Let’s keep this “nameless, faceless opponent” energy going by jumping on the decimated Nets early. The Celtics have focused on doing the things they do better, and it’s paying off. 

“Guys are trusting each other, finding each other, and enjoying playing together,” Udoka said. “So when you get that mix of transition, pace, isolations, pick and roll, post ups, and all the things we can do and an off ball unselfishness, I think that's where you've seen us grow offensively.”

Teams tend to get away from things like this in situations like this, but they should always be doing the opposite. Jump on the Nets early, put them away early, and crush their will to come back.

2. Focus defensively: Bench players are fighting for minutes and trying to prove they should be playing more. This is the opportunity for some of these Nets to pile up some stats. Don’t give them the confidence of a few made shots because that will turn into uncomfortable late-game situations. 

3. Jaylen Brown All-Star revenge tour: LaMelo Ball was named as Kevin Durant’s replacement to the East player pool. Shortly after that announcement, Brown tweeted out “copy,” which seems to be a response to that selection. Jaylen might feel slighted, so let’s see if he’s going to have a particularly good game here (or if he’s going to break ranks and iso too much). 

GAME THREAD

Stick around for more comments below as the game goes on. Feel free to add your two cents in the comments.