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Brooklyn Nets (15-43) at Boston Celtics (38-20)
Friday, February 27, 2025
7:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game #59, Home Game #28
TV: NBCSB, YES, NBA-TV
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, 101.9 FM, Serius XM
TD Garden 
Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
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Derrick White vs Nolan Traore
Shooting Guard 
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Baylor Scheierman vs Egor Demin
Small Forward 
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Jaylen Brown vs Michael Porter, Jr
Power Forward 
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Sam Hauser vs Noah Clowney
Center 
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Neemias Queta vs Nic Claxton
Celtics ReservesPayton Pritchard
Hugo Gonzalez
Luka Garza
Amare Williams
Nikola Vucevic
Jordan Walsh
Delano Banton (10-day)
John Tonje (10-day)
2-Way PlayersRon Harper, Jr
Max Shulga
Injuries/OutJayson Tatum (Achilles) out
Head CoachJoe Mazzulla
Nets Reserves Terance Mann
Josh Minott
Drake Powell
Ben Seraf
Day'Ron Sharpe
Ziaire Williams
Jalen Wilson
Danny Wolf
Two-Way Players EJ Liddell
Tyson Etienne
Chaney Johnson
Injuries/Out None
Head Coach Jordi Fernandez
Game Notes The Cetics return home from their 3-1 western road trip to host the Brooklyn Nets. This is the 4th, and final, game between them this season. The Celtics won the first meeting 113-99 in Brooklyn on November 18. They lost the second game 113-205 at Boston on November 21. They won the 3rd game 130-126 in OT on January 23.
The Celtics have swept the series against the Nets in the last 2 seasons. The Celtics are 147-75 overall all time against the Nets and they are 77-35 when playing in Boston. The Nets are playing on the second night of back to back games, having played the Spurs at home on Thursday night. The Celtics are playing in the first game at home after 4 straight games on the road on the West coast so, even though they had a day off, they had to travel across country and may still have a bit of jet lag.
The Nets made a couple of moves at the trade deadline. They got Ochai Agbaji from Toronto as part of a 3 team trade. They also received Josh Minott from the Celtics in exchange for cash considerations. They also waived Cam Thomas after the deadline. They are still the youngest team in the league with an average age of 23.98.
The Celtics are 2nd in the East, 5.5 games behind 1st place Detroit. They are 1.5 games ahead of 3rd place New York , 2 games ahead of 4th place Cleveland, 4.5 games ahead of 5th place Toronto, 6 games ahead of 6th place Philadelphia and 6.5 games ahead of 7th place Orlando. The Celtics are 24-13 against Eastern Conference opponents and 7-5 against the Atlantic Division. They are 18-9 at home and 8-2 in their last 10 games. They are coming off a loss in their last game.
The Nets are 14th in the East, 28.5 games behind first place Detroit, 13 games behind 10th place Charlotte, 11.5 games behind 11th place Milwaukee, 8.5 games behind 12th place Chicago, 1 game behind 13th place Washington and 1 game ahead of 15th place Indiana. They are 11-24 against Eastern Conference opponents and 3-9 against the Atlantic Division. They are 7-22 on the road and 2-8 in their last 10 games. They have lost their last 6 games.
The Celtics are back home after a 4 game Western road trip. They went 3-1 on the trip, losing only the final game at Denver. After this game against Brooklyn, they will host Philadelphia before a game at Milwaukee. Then they are back home for games against Charlotte and Dallas before a tough 3 game road trip through Cleveland, San Antonio, and Oklahoma City. Then they host Washington, Phoenix and Golden State. Then, it is one game at Memphis before a 3 game home stand against Minnesota, Oklahoma City and Atlanta.
The Nets are playing in the 2nd of back to back games after hosting San Antonio on Thursday. They will return home to play Cleveland before heading out to play 2 games at Miami and 1 at Detroit. Then they play home vs Memphis and Detroit before playing at Atlanta and Philadelphia. Next they host Portland, Oklahoma City, and New York before a road trip through Sacramento, Portland, Golden State and the Lakers. .
The Celtics have just Jayson Tatum on the injury report and the rumors are getting stronger as to his return to play this season. The Nets have no one on their injury list. I've listed their starting lineup from their game notes. This is the same starting lineup that started Thursday's game for the Nets.
Key Matchups vs
Jaylen Brown vs Michael Porter, Jr
Porter is clearly the Nets best player and is averaging 24.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1 steal per game. He is shooting 47.2% from the field and 37.0% from beyond the arc. In the first 2 games against Boston this season, he averaged 29 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 1.5 steals while shooting 56.8% from the field and 57.1% from beyond the arc. In the January 21 game, he finished with 30 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists while shooting 47.4% from the field and 33.3%from beyond the arc. The Celtics need to defend him better in this game.
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Neemias Queta vs Nic Claxton
Claxton is averaging 12.6 points, 7.3 rebounds, 4. 1 assists and 1.2 blocks per game. He is shooting 59.1% from the field and 20% from three. In the first 2 games this season against the Celtics, he averaged 12.5 points, 11 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1 block while shooting 36.4% from the field with no threes. In the January 21 game, he finished with 18 points, 9 rebounds 4 assists and 1 block. In the Nets' win over the Celtics, he put up his first career triple double. The Celtics need to keep him out of the paint and be aware of him on defense as he is a good rim protector.
Honorable MentionSam Hauser vs Noah Clowney
Clowney is averaging 12.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game while shooting 39.5% from the field and 32.6% from beyond the arc. In the first 2 games against the Celtics this season, he averaged 16 points, 2 rebounds and 1 steal while shooting 47.8% from the field and 40% from 3. In the January 21 game he finished with15 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block.
Keys to the Game Defense - As always, defense is a key to winning this, and every, game. The Celtics are 7th with a defensive rating of 111.9. The Nets are 26th in the league with a defensive rating of 117.6 In the 16 games before Wednesday's game against Denver, the Celtics were 3rd in the league on defense. Whether it was fatigue or the altitude, the Celtics let their defense slip in the second half. They must get back to playing tough lock down defense once again in this game to give themselves the best chance of winning.
Rebound - Rebounding is also an important key to winning every game. The Celtics are 5th in the league, pulling down 46.0 rebounds per game. The Nets are 30th with 40.3 rebounds per game. It is important for the Celtics to rebound the ball to give themselves extra possessions and to prevent the Nets from getting the same along with 2nd chance points. Much of rebounding is effort and the Celtics have got to put out more effort than the Nets to grab rebounds for all 4 quarters.
Don't Underestimate - The Celtics need to stay focused and be aggressive from start to finish. The Nets have not been playing well, but they play hard and will always try to beat the Celtics. The Celtics did underestimate them in their last meeting in Boston and ended up losing. The Nets also took the Celtics to overtime in their last game. The Celtics can't underestimate them because they have lost 8 of their last 10 games. The Celtics should have the talent to win easily, but if they underestimate the Nets and come out with less than 100% effort, they may be surprised with another loss to them.
Effort and Focus - The Celtics have to put out more effort in this game than the Nets. They also have to stay focused on taking good shots and making them. In the 2nd half against the Nuggets, whether it was the altitude or fatigue from playing in 3 games in 4 nights in 4 different cities, they lost focus and turned the ball over and had one of their worst shooting games of the season. Hopefully they can shake that off and come out strong in this game and play with effort and stay focused.
X-Factors Home Game - The Celtics need to feed off the energy of the crowd and hopefully, the Nets will be distracted by travel and the very loud crowd. The Celtics need to take losing on their home court personally and make home court advantage a strength. The first game at home after a long road trip is usually a tough one due to fatigue and jet lag. The Celtics have to shake that off and come out and play hard and take motivation from the crowd and get a win in this one.
Officiating - The officiating is always an x-factor. Some referees call the game tight and others let them play. Some favor the home team and others call it evenly. Some refs just seem to have an agenda that doesn't fit the events on the court. At times they miss important calls that change the momentum of the game. The Celtics need to play well enough not to leave the game in the hands of the officials at the end and they can't let bad calls take away from their focus.
Topic: Nets (15-43) at Celtics (38-20) Game #59 2/27/26 (Read 160 times)