Celtics return home to face tanking Nets at TD Garden
The Boston Celtics return to TD Garden on Friday to host the struggling Brooklyn nets, a matchup that offers Boston a chance to shake off a 103-84 loss in Denver and snap Brooklyn’s six-game skid.
Nets' slide and roster moves
Brooklyn enters Friday with a 15-43 record and has dropped six straight, most recently falling 126-110 to the Spurs on Thursday. Josh Minott made his Nets debut in that loss after Boston sent him to Brooklyn for cash considerations at the trade deadline; Minott did not record a point in the game. The Nets also acquired Ochai Agbaji in a three-team trade and waived Cam Thomas after the deadline, and the club remains the youngest in the league with an average age of 23. 98.
Celtics stumble in Denver, Brown keeps perspective
Boston’s 103-84 loss in Denver ended a four-game winning streak and produced season lows in point total and shooting percentage (34. 9 percent); the Nuggets outscored the Celtics 56-36 in the final two quarters. Jaylen Brown, who led Boston with 23 points and 11 rebounds in that game, said, “We’ve just got to continue to get better little by little. ” The Celtics finished 3-1 on their West Coast road trip coming out of the All-Star break and are 9-2 in their past 11 games overall.
Game details and what comes next
Friday’s game tips at 7: 30 p. m. ET at TD Garden and will be televised on NBC Sports Boston; it is the fourth and final meeting between the teams this season. The two clubs split earlier meetings: the Celtics won 113-99 in Brooklyn on Nov. 18, the Nets won 113-105 in Boston on Nov. 21, and the most recent matchup was a 130-126 double-overtime road win for Boston on Jan. 23, when Jaylen Brown logged 27 points, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds.
Boston averages 114. 4 points per game while allowing 107. 5; Brooklyn averages 107. 0 points and allows 115. 0. The Celtics are 38-20 on the season and have been strong at home (18-9), while the Nets are 15-43 and have struggled on the second night of back-to-back sets—the Nets play Friday on the second night after hosting the Spurs on Thursday.
After Friday’s meeting the Celtics will host Philadelphia before a trip to Milwaukee, and the Nets will return home to play Cleveland before heading to Miami for two games and then to Detroit for one, as currently scheduled.
