The Brooklyn Nets wanted this game. We knew that when Avery Johnson rested his starters on Tuesday night. The new look Nets were on national television in their new arena against the Celtics.
How did Brooklyn respond? They got steamrolled.
The Celtics were aggressive on both ends of the floor and dominated this game from start to finish. The final was 115-85.
Doc Rivers trotted out Jared Sullinger and Courtney Lee with KG, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo. It looks like this will be the starting lineup for the opening of the season. Doc is still tinkering with rotations. At one point, he had Jason Terry and four forwards (Jeff Green, Pierce, Brandon Bass and Sullinger).
Wasn’t it fun watching the guys in green run? Rajon Rondo had 14 points, 9 assists. Courtney Lee played his best game – 18 points, 4 steals and some stifling defense on Joe Johnson (4-14 FG). Jason Terry dropped 5 three-point bombs en route to 15 points.
The mild-mannered Joe Johnson was whistled for a flagrant foul when he pushed Pierce on a drive to the hoop. It was a cheap shot.
A couple of injury notes:
Paul Pierce tweaked his ankle in the second quarter. He returned to start the second half and didn’t appear to have any issues.
Brandon Bass sat out the second half due to a sore knee.
The Barclays Center is a very cool arena. I like the floor, colors and lighting. Same old Nets though.
John was at the game and posted a bunch of cool pictures on Twitter.
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