Strong defence helps Boston Celtics down Brooklyn Nets 93-76: NBA Recap
Brooklyn Nets found it hard to make baskets on the Christmas day matchup against a tough Boston Celtics defence, who held the Nets to 40 percent shooting from the field.
Rajon Rondo made key plays throughout the game and Paul Pierce took the role of ball handler for the night as he dished out 10 assists to go along with his 8 points. Rondo finished off with 19 points and 6 rebounds while Jeff Green
came off the bench to add 15 points for the Celtics.
20 Nets turnovers did not help their cause as Gerald Wallace was their only stand out player; he finished off with 15 points and 6 rebounds.
"I think we're getting better. I think we're very, very close to becoming a good team, but we're not yet." Celtics coach Doc Rivers.
Celtics were comfortably enjoying a 21 points lead at one stage when the Nets started cutting the deficit late in the third quarter. But Rondo put breaks on the Nets surge, he fed Jared Sullinger for a layup and then nailed a three
pointer to close the third period with a 5 nil spurt to stop the Nets surge.
The last time they both faced each other, a Kris Humphries foul on Kevin Garnett resulted in a brawl with both Rondo and Humphries ejected, and Rondo serving a two-game ban for that incident.
Tonight, in the third quarter, Wallace grabbed Garnett’s shirt as he tried to maintain his balance and a minor confrontation took place. Garnett, Wallace, Andray Blatche and Courtney Lee all received technical fouls for the incident.
Garnett was not pleased with Garnett, he said
"I don't know where in America you can (yank) somebody's pants off, or shorts off. I don't know what the h**l was going on,"
It was the second quarter the things got away from the Celtics in their last encounter with the Nets. However, this time around it was a different story altogether with Boston playing the quarter of the season.
Nets were up by 4 points at the start of the second period but a 10 nil run capped off by a Garnett jumper had the Celtics leading 36-29. They kept on racing away and went wild with a 13-3 spurt to extend their lead. Terry sank
from behind the arc and Rondo completed a three point play to have the Celtics up 49-34 with 3:56 to go in the period and the Celtics were leading by 14 points at halftime.
Boston extended their lead to 21 points early in the third quarter and the Nets never really looked to threaten them as the Celtics cruised to a 93-76 win eventually.
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