Brooklyn Nets beat Boston Celtics 95-84, Snap Rajon Rondo’s assist streak: NBA Recap
Rajon Rondo 37 game double-digit assists streak came to an abrupt end when he was ejected in their game against the Brooklyn Nets, who dropped the Boston Celtics 95-84 at TD Garden on Wednesday night.
Rondo had 6 points and 3 assists after he was ejected near the end of the second period when he scuffled with Kris Humphries, who committed a hard foul on Rondo’s team mate Kevin Garnett. The two players received immediate ejections after they dragged each other out on the crowd. Nets suffered more as Gerald Wallace was also ejected after his second technical foul when he also lost his cool in the heat of the moment.
Things calmed down in the second half and Joe Johnson stepped up for the Nets by scoring 18 points and dishing out 6 assists. He was well supported by Andray Blatche who came off the bench to post a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds while Jerry Stackhouse chipped in with 17 points.
Kevin Garnett led the Celtics with 16 points and 10 rebounds, Paul Pierce collected 14 points 9 rebounds and 7 assists while Brandon Bass contributed 16 points for the home side. The Celtics shot a low 1 out of 7 from the three point range on the night.
"They just didn't give in. We had a lot of adversity on the court, but our defence was consistent for the whole game for the most part...we're playing some hard-nose defence." said the Brooklyn coach Avery Johnson.
Garnett made a layup in the early going of the first period to put the Celtics up 10-7. Moments later, he slammed home a dunk as Boston went up 14-9. The Nets responded with an 8-0 run to snatch the lead and started pulling ahead late. Brooklyn were leading 28-20 by the end of the period.
The Nets kept the momentum going and an extended 25-6 run pushed their advantage to 47-26, their biggest lead of the game. Boston came back late in the period and managed to reduce the deficit down to 38-51 by the end it.
Deron Williams sank a three pointer to push the Nets lead to 56-40 early in the third period. The Celtics tried hard to come-back into the game but could not come closer than 49-60, before Brooklyn started piling up their lead again. The Nets went into final period holding a 70-55 lead.
Celtics outscored the Nets in the final period but could not catch sight of them. The closest Celtics got was 63-72 before the Nets ran away to victory. Brooklyn were up 83-71, with 4:04 on the regulation and they went on to win by 12 points eventually.
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