Celtics Fall To Nets
NEW YORK -- Center Brook Lopez continued his fine play with 23 points and 10 rebounds, and forward Joe Johnson scored 10 of his 17 points in a decisive second quarter, leading the Brooklyn Nets to a 111-101 victory over the Boston Celtics Sunday night at the Barclays Center.
Brooklyn (3-11) avenged a loss sustained at Boston just 48 hours prior.
Just as on Friday night, when the Celtics earned a 120-95 victory, Sunday's game was decided in the second quarter. The Nets totally reversed their fortune, outscoring the Celtics 35-23. On Friday, the Nets were outscored 43-23 in the second.
The Nets got 22 points from guard Jarrett Jack, including three clutch baskets in the final four minutes, and 12 points from reserve forward Andrea Bargnani, 10 coming in the second period. Forward Thaddeus Young added 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for the winners. Jack had 13 of his points in the final period.
The Celtics (7-6) received 27 points each from guards Avery Bradley and Isaiah Thomas. Guard Evan Turner added 13 off the bench for Boston.
After the Nets gained a 24-19 lead to close out the first period, they became unstoppable in the second, posting two 10-0 runs.
The first 10-point surge, capped by a slam dunk by reserve forward Thomas Robinson off an alley-oop pass from guard Shane Larkin, gave Brooklyn a 37-27 lead with 7:23 left in the second period.
The second 10-0 stretch featured two long 3-pointers from Johnson and was capped by an 18-foot jumper from Bargnani, pushing the lead to 51-35 with 2:22 left before halftime.
Brooklyn shot 67 percent (14-of-21) from the floor in the second period. Ten Nets scored at least three points in the first half.
The Nets led 59-42 at halftime, then pushed the lead to 20 in the early stages of the third. It marked the first time this season that Brooklyn led by as many as 20 in any game.
Bradley drained two long threes in the closing minute of the third quarter, as Boston cut the lead to 86-76 with 53 seconds left. Forward Tyler Zeller made a lane jumper to slice the lead to 86-78 entering the fourth quarter.
Bradley made a steal and acrobatic jumper off glass that cut the lead to 88-82 with 10:28 remaining.
The Nets then held off a late run from the Celtics to secure their third win of the season, an important result with tough road games against the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Cleveland Cavaliers up next.
NOTES: Celtics G Avery Bradley, who scored 27 points, was averaging 20 points per game over the previous seven meetings with Brooklyn. ... Celtics G Marcus Smart missed the game with a lower left leg injury. The second-year player out of Oklahoma State missed three games last week with a toe injury. ...Celtics G Evan Turner, who is averaging 8.8 points per game, said that his current knee injury is "no big deal" and he will continue to play through it. ... Nets GM Billy King has kept a tight lip with his team's beat writers since the start of the season, but he was quoted yesterday as "going for broke," when he traded all of the team's first-round draft picks in a deal to get Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry three years ago. The Celtics now own the Nets' first-round pick this year, even if it falls to lottery status.
