When: January 2, 2016; 3:00 PM EST
Where: TD Garden; Boston, MA
TV: YES Network
Radio: WFAN 660 AM
The Brooklyn Nets hope that 2016 will start off much better for them than 2015 ended. The team, which is playing its first game in the new year this afternoon in Boston against the Celtics, won just nine games in the 2015 portion of its 2015-16 schedule and lost 23, with the most recent defeat coming on Wednesday against the Magic.
Brooklyn actually led most of that game, but, as the Nets have done often this season, they faded away in the fourth quarter as they were outscored 32-20 in the final frame by Orlando en route to a 100-93 loss. The weak late-game performance stunted the momentum Lionel Hollins’ team had from its win on Monday in Miami over the Heat. Brook Lopez led the Nets with 24 points and 15 rebounds at Amway Center and Bojan Bogdanovic added 20 points, but Brooklyn had no answer for Nikola Vucevic, who always seems to have big games against them.
Now, the Nets are set to play the Celtics for the third time this season in another home-and-home series between the two teams. Back in late November, Boston went into Brooklyn and crushed the Nets 120-95, only to fall at home two days later by a score of 111-101. Tonight, they’ll face off in Boston and on Monday, they will head south to play at Barclays Center.
Of course, games between the Nets and Celtics this year are doubly interesting, as Boston owns the rights to Brooklyn’s first round pick this year and in 2018, with the rights to next year’s Nets’ pick available to the Celtics via an optional pick swap. This is due to the infamous Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry trade of the 2013 offseason that managed to set the Nets franchise back years while catapulting the Celtics into relevance.
Now, under third-year head coach Brad Stevens, the Celtics are making strides as a young team with an impressive 18-14 record, but there are certainly growing pains, as evidenced by Boston’s loss to the lowly Lakers on Wednesday night at TD Garden. Isaiah Thomas and Evan Turner combined to score 44 points but it wasn’t enough in Kobe’s last game in Boston, as the future Hall-of-Famer posted a double-double in his team’s winning effort. As the Celtics conclude a three-game homestand, you can be sure they’ll want to get the bad taste out of their mouth from their bad beat.
Probable lineups
BKN- Jarrett Jack (PG), Bojan Bogdanovic (SG), Joe Johnson (SF), Thaddeus Young (PF), Brook Lopez (C)
BOS- Isaiah Thomas (PG), Avery Bradley (SG), Jae Crowder (SF), Amir Johnson (PF), Jared Sullinger (C)
Final thoughts
The Nets have been an unpredictable team all year, but have actually been competitive in four of their last five games, even if they only notched two wins from those efforts. So, don’t be surprised if they show up for awhile this afternoon and maybe catch Boston sleeping a bit. But, Brooklyn could easily be the sleepwalking team today as they try to avoid their — gasp — 24th loss of the young season.
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