Final: Celtics 114, Nets 107 - Huge 4th quarter comeback gives C's 2-0 lead

ROUND 1, GAME 2
(2) Boston Celtics vs. (7) Brooklyn Nets
Boston leads 1-0
TD Garden
7:00 PM - TNT, NBC Sports Boston

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

Boston: Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, Daniel Theis

Brooklyn: Kyrie Irving, Seth Curry, Bruce Brown, Kevin Durant, Andre Drummond

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Robert Williams is still out. Today marks three weeks since his meniscus surgery. The original time frame was 4-6 weeks. 

"He’s getting out there, getting some three-on-three up a little bit. He’s doing more every day," Udoka said. "It’s a comfort level thing with him. The risk is injury, swelling or something like that coming off of surgery. Little bit of pain tolerance and how well his body reacts to the up level physically. Doing little more, getting out there on the court and looking good at times. We ease it up the next day if he has a heavy session. We’re still planning on playing without him, but happy with his progress.?

- There's growing chatter that Ben Simmons could return as soon as Game 4. Ime Udoka doesn't seem bothered. 

"Myself, coaching him in the past and a lot of guys in general - a lot of them played against him recently in a series, two years ago in the bubble, and Al played with him. So a lot of us know him well enough," he said. "When it’s time to talk about what he does, I don’t think it’s a problem for our guys. We have a group that’s seen him quite a bit."

- Boston is favored by 3.5

(I’ll add to this after we hear from the team pregame)

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. A more settled game: Game 1 was the first playoff game in front of a full home TD Garden crowd since May 6, 2019. It should be no surprise that Game 1 was a bit of a disjointed mess. 

“I think everybody's a little nervous,” Payton Pritchard said. “It's your first game, playoff game, it's a big matchup. So think playoff jitters a little bit. And it's first time since like getting rid of COVID that this is like a real playoff feel. Like last year just wasn't the same. And then, obviously, they had the bubble year. So this year is like the first time that it's like the real deal again.”

I think now with a game under their belts, both teams can settle in and we'll see a more indicative game of where these two teams are. 

2. Kevin Durant’s explosion: We know he’s not going to shoot as poorly as he did in Game 1, even though Boston’s defense had a big role in making him miss a lot of those shots. He’s just too good to be held down for a whole series. The real question for Boston is how they react to the explosion and, maybe even more importantly, how Kyrie Irving reacts to it. Will the two of them jack all the shots and leave the supporting cast high and dry? Will Boston get sucked into an iso-fest?

3. A more complete game from Jaylen Brown: #2 leads me to #3. 

“We hadn't played in a little bit and also, like, this playoffs, somebody said to me it's been 500-plus days since I've played in a playoff game,” Brown said. “Playoffs is, for me, basketball in general, I love. But there's just something about the playoffs that really gets me going. So I haven't played in a playoff game in two years or something like that. 500-plus days. You could say I had a lot fo pregame excitement, jitters. I had to calm myself down a little bit.”

Brown had a big fourth quarter but he struggled a bit over the first three. He knows he needs to be better tonight. 

“Just being more aggressive, getting more involved,” he admitted. “I don't think I was involved enough in that game. That's something that I'm looking forward to doing in Game 2. Also, just continuing to take care of the ball, find open teammates. But on defense, continuing to be aggressive, play without fouling.”

GAME THREAD

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