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Celtics Hand Nets First Preseason Loss Despite Lopez's 23

By NetsDaily

The Nets' winning streak came to an end with a 96-92 loss to the Celtics at the Prudential Center Thursday night. Behind 13 points from Brook Lopez, the Nets led 28-19 after the first quarter, but the Celtics' bench outscored them 37-26 in the second and Boston took control with a 9-2 run to start the third.

The Nets came back and tied the game on a Jordan Farmar three with a minute to go in the fourth, but Marquis Daniels answered with a three for the Celtics. The Nets had a chance to tie in the final seconds, but Anthony Morrow stepped out of bounds before he could get a shot off. None of the Celtic starters and only two of the Net starters  were on the floor at the end of the game.

In spite of getting into a fender-bender near the Lincoln Tunnel before the game, Lopez led all scorers with 23 points, getting to the line 15 times. Terrence Williams added 17 points and five assists off the bench. But Devin Harris did not do much in his 17 minutes, while Morrow and Travis Outlaw combined to shoot just 6-for-19 from the field. With a Nuggets scout in attendance, Derrick Favors made just one of his six shots and finished with three points, four rebounds and a block before fouling out in 24 minutes. Adrian Wojnarowski tweets despite the presence of Mike Bratz, "no new movement on a possible deal for Carmelo Anthony." After making 15 of their 28 threes in their first two preseason games, the Nets hit went just 5-for-18 from beyond the arc and shot just 40 percent from the field overall.

In post-game interviews, Avery Johnson, Doc Rivers and Shaq all had positive things to say about Lopez, with O'Neal telling writers,  "He is like Tim Duncan. Classy guy. You'll never hear a bad word about him. Great player."

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