In their second preseason game against the Brooklyn Nets the Boston Celtics traveled to New York to visit the brand new Barclays Center. In their first match-up we only got a glimpse of the new look Nets as all five starters sat out the entire game. That game still proved to be extremely competitive with the Celtics losing by a point at home. This time around the Brooklyn Nets held the home court advantage and the starters came to play. The Celtics sought revenge for the game Tuesday and certainly looked focused blowing out the Nets 115 to 85.
As the regular season rapidly approaches we looked to see how Doc formulates his line-ups, solidifies a solid rotation, and who will join the three veteran starters in Rondo, Pierce, and Garnett. For tonight's game the Celtics opened up with Rajon Rondo, Courtney Lee, Paul Pierce, Jared Sullinger, and Kevin Garnett. This was a great game for the starting five as each player knew his role and executed to the fullest. Rajon Rondo had a solid overall performance tallying 14 points, 9 assists, and 3 rebounds.
I was especially excited about Courtney Lee tonight who had a breakout performance scoring a team high 18 points on 8 of 12 shooting. The team as a whole did a great job of turning defense into offense and each individual player shot a high percentage from the field. Kevin Garnett had a strong performance going 7-9 with 14 points in just 22 minutes.
The Celtics captain Paul Pierce was certainly "The Truth" tonight hitting all 4 of his shots from the three point line and finished with 18 points tying Lee for a game high. Finally was Jared Sullinger who got the start again at the four spot. Sullinger played well offensively with 12 points on 5 of 9 shooting. Defensively he struggled at times against the larger power forwards Kris Humphries and Andre Blatche but overall put together a solid performance.
Brooklyn Nets guard Tyshawn Taylor shoots over Boston Celtics guard Jason Terry (4) in the first half of their preseason NBA basketball game at Barclays Center
Coming off the bench tonight "The Jet was on the runway". Jason Terry was locked in hitting 5 of 5 shots from downtown and looked to be in a very comfortable rhythm. The depth of our bench certainly showed tonight against Brooklyn. Jeff Green struggled in back to back games shooting 3 of 11 and finishing with 7 points. On the upside he grabbed 6 rebounds and certainly helped space the floor creating opportunities for our three point shooters.
The second round rookie Kris Joseph, certainly made the most of his minutes tonight racking up 11 points on 5 of 7 shooting in just 12 minutes. I have to admit I was somewhat disappointed when the Celtics released Dionte Christmas yet, after Kris' performance tonight I'm glad he's the favorite to make the team. Many people forget he was the leading scorer for Syracuse last year and I think with some further development he can certainly become a contributor to the team.
The Celtics shot great on the night shooting 57% while playing great defense holding the Nets to 37% shooting. Joe Johnson struggled hitting 4-14 and finishing with 11 points. The Celtics also cut down of their turnovers committing 14 which was an improvement from their past performances this preseason. They also narrowly won the rebounding battle totaling 43 to that of Brooklyn's 40. Going forward I'm excited to see if this rotation gets set in stone. If we can have this defensive intensity every night and the bench contributes like they did the Celtics will be a force in the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics will play again Saturday matched up against their other New York division rival, the Knicks.
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