WHO: Brooklyn Nets (27-23) at Boston Celtics (30-19)
WHAT: The Nets are the hottest team in the NBA (well, at least in the East) and headed to Boston with a TON of injuries. Brooklyn is looking to pick up a game on the 5th seeded Celtics.
WHERE: TD Garden, Boston, MA
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. EST
HOW: YES, NBCSB; NBA League Pass
THE STORY: Game Preview
The Celtics, who also boast a deep roster and strong bench, play a similar sort of relentless game plan. They take a ton of threes, play a solid defensive scheme, and have the star to finish it all off at the end. The Nets beat the Celtics last time out, largely due to a beautiful DLo performance and a classic “Rodi-hits-some-threes-and-plays-hard-and-has-19-points-and-swings-the-game” outing. In order to beat a deep team guys like Kurucs and Pinson and Davis have to hit some shots and the way it’s been goin’ lately that doesn’t seem too crazy.
Graham will be missed. After a rough start to his season, both injury-wise and stats-wise, Graham is averaging 9.0 points on 50 percent shooting from the field and 38 percent from three over his last five games. He’s not Tim Duncan, but he’s filling in nicely as the starting power forward who can stretch the floor for Kenny’s offense, something Jared Dudley did (and will again) and RHJ cannot do yet.
The Celtics wings are always an issue for the Nets, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are kind of a dynamic duo with one of them (Tatum) bringing more offense-oriented and the other (Brown) bring a super active switchy defender. Brown can score, he’s putting up 17 points per 36 minutes, but when Jayson Tatum wants to create his own shot, he kind of just does it. His combination of size, strength, athleticism, and ball-handling ability is rare, and it makes him a tough defensive assignment. Kurucs and RHJ are decently sized to match up with Tatum, but even in the win against Boston earlier this month, the kid still put up 34 points.
For more on the Celtics, check out: Celtics Blog