Jaylen Brown totaled 34 points and 10 rebounds as the Boston Celtics struggled at times in the second half before pulling away in the final minutes for a 103-92 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday night in New York.
Brown dominated during the first meeting between the teams since Boston completed a four-game sweep of the Nets in the first round of last season’s playoffs. Brown scored 17 straight points before going on to finish with 20 in the opening quarter after Boston started slowly, then added eight more in the fourth.
Jayson Tatum bounced back from being held to a season-low 14 points in Friday’s overtime loss to Miami and added 29 points to go along with 11 rebounds. He scored 12 points in the final quarter after the Celtics were held to 13 in the third and had four of Boston’s 11 steals.
Malcolm Brogdon added 13 points, eight boards and eight assists, while Grant Williams chipped in 10 points as the Celtics shot 43.2 percent.
Kevin Durant scored 31 points but also committed four of his eight turnovers in the fourth quarter as the Nets saw a four-game winning streak and a six-game home winning streak stopped. Kyrie Irving added 18 points but shot 7 of 21 as the Nets shot 40.5 percent and missed 17 of 26 3-point tries.
Brown scored 17 straight Boston points in a span of 5:10 as the Celtics hit eight 3-pointers in the first quarter and took a 35-27 lead. After Joe Harris hit a 3-pointer for a 48-all deadlock with 4:09 remaining in the second, Tatum scored the final nine points of a 14-2 run to push Boston’s lead to 62-50 by the break.
The Celtics survived missing 12 of 16 shots and committing eight total turnovers in the third and held a 75-69 lead heading into the fourth. Brooklyn was within 78-76 when Tatum was called for goaltending on Harris’ shot attempt with 7:22 remaining, but Al Horford hit a 3 and Brown had consecutive baskets for an 85-76 lead a little over a minute later.
Two free throws by Tatum upped the lead to 90-79 with 5:07 left. After the Nets were within 90-85 on Durant’s three-point play, Boston finished it off with four free throws by Brown and seven straight points by Tatum, whose 3-pointer opened a 101-85 lead with 1:43 remaining.
–Field Level Media
