Celtics Finally Climb Above .500 With Sloppy Win Over Nets
It took them 15 games — nearly one-fifth of the NBA regular season — but the Boston Celtics are finally over .500.
The Celtics improved to 8-7 with their 113-99 win over the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center on Tuesday night. However, the game was closer than the final score would indicate.
Boston committed a season-high 20 turnovers, allowing the Nets to hang around before finally pulling away during the final minutes. Twelve of those turnovers came during the first half, which the Celtics won by just one point despite shooting 61.1 percent from the floor and making more than half of their 3-pointers.
Boston got out to a slow start, trailing by 10 points midway through the first quarter. Jaylen Brown had only six points in 10 minutes during the first half, but Payton Pritchard stayed hot with 17 points and Anfernee Simons had 11.
Brown turned things around in the second half, however, erupting for 17 points in a dazzling third quarter.
Brooklyn kept battling and kept the game close, briefly taking the lead early in the fourth quarter. The Celtics finished the game strong, though, going on a 24-9 run to close out the game and drop the reeling Nets to 2-12.
Brown finished with a game-high 29 points — doing much of his damage at the free-throw line — while Pritchard poured in 22, topping 20 points for the third straight game. Derrick White chipped in 15 points as well in Boston’s third consecutive win, matching the team’s longest winning streak of the season.
The Celtics will look to keep rolling in a rematch with Brooklyn at TD Garden on Friday night in their third NBA Cup game. Boston has won three straight home games and nine consecutive contests against the Nets, but is 1-1 in NBA Cup action so far with a minus-12 point differential.