Final: Celtics 126, Nets 120 - Tatum's 54 carries C's in duel with Durant

Game 66
Boston Celtics (38-27, 22-11 home, 5th East) vs. Brooklyn Nets (32-32, 19-14 road, 8th East)
TD Garden
1:00 PM - ABC

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

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

Brooklyn: Kyrie Irving, Seth Curry, Kevin Durant, James Johnson, Andre Drummond

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Jaylen Brown tested his ankle pregame and was cleared to play.

“He had some shooting sessions where he felt OK,” Ime Udoka said before the game. “Obviously, there’s gonna be some pain there, it’s a little bit of pain tolerance. But the swelling has gone down.”

- Aaron Nesmith is out.

“He’s alright,” Udoka said. “The swelling was more significant than Jaylen. So he’s going to be out for a longer period of time for sure.”

- Ben Simmons is still out. He’s dealing with a bad back that is delaying his debut for Brooklyn.

- After giving up 124 points to the Lakers last night, Golden State’s defensive rating has fallen behind Boston’s, making the Celtics defense #1 in the NBA.

- The Celtics have signed Nik Stauskas.

"We were always looking at available shooters," Udoka said. "And then he's had 57 and a 47 recently. Had a lot of opportunities, I think five or so teams were trying to bring him in, and it was a matter of him trying to pick the best spot for himself, so the shooting numbers, a proven NBA guy that's played some minutes played into it as well."

- Boston is favored by 4.5

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. Slow start: These 1 PM games are always a crapshoot. Maybe the ABC cameras will give these guys a little more juice because the first team to fully wake up will probably be the team that controls the whole game. 

2. New-look Nets: They’ll have both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, so this isn’t the same squad we’ve seen recently. This will be a real test of the Celtics defense and their ability to get stops against elite individual scorers.

“But (it) also takes away from what they've been doing. And so there could be some chemistry, for good or bad,” Udoka said. “We have to kind of predict lineups and situations. But, bottom line, is you're adding two of the best scorers in the league. And so that's going to give them a boost regardless, and it’s a good challenge for us.”

3. Attack the middle: The Nets will certainly try their fair share of zone, but no matter how they play, Boston has to get into the middle. Against the zone, the Celtics need to get Marcus Smart or Jayson Tatum at the free throw line and collapse the defense. Against man-to-man, they need to put Andre Drummond to work defensively and challenge him. If Blake Griffin is on the floor, put him in every pick-and-roll possible. 

GAME THREAD

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