Gameday Preview: Celtics vs. Nets on Christmas Day
Credit: Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images. Pictured: Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics and Kevin Durant #7 of the Brooklyn Nets.
It’s Christmas and that means the Nets are coming back to town to take on the Celtics. The last time the two teams squared off it was in preseason action just last week. Things didn’t go very well for the C’s as they lost badly, 113-89.
Boston has had plenty of time to improve since dropping their final preseason game to Brooklyn. They had a few days prior to opening night to iron out the kinks, and for the most part, it looks like they did. The team that showed up Wednesday night against Milwaukee wasn’t even in the same league as the preseason C’s. Just look at how well the stars played. Jaylen Brown (33) and Jayson Tatum (30) both broke the 30 point threshold. The two Jays struggled immensely in the preseason, both shooting 30 percent from the field and roughly 15 percent from deep. Wednesday night the young stars shot much better and led the Celtics to a 122-121 over the new-look Bucks.
Brooklyn had the honor of playing in the first game of this new NBA season. Tuesday night the Nets ran through the Warriors, winning by a comfortable 26 point margin. Brooklyn’s new dynamic duo of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving impressed in their regular season debut. Irving poured in 26 points and had a solid night from behind the arc, drilling four threes. Durant pitched in 22 points of his own and also tallied three steals. Brooklyn has been deemed one of the deepest teams in the league and that’s largely because of Caris Levert. Levert impressed in the preseason against Boston and continued his fine play Tuesday night. He scored 20 points off the bench and made three threes in the process.
These two teams proved themselves in different ways in their opening games. The Nets proved that they’re a force to reckoned with while the Celtics proved that they still belong and can compete with the best. We certainly aren’t going to see another game like the one last week. Boston is for sure going to come to play. They’ve seemed to figure out whatever was wrong in the preseason. Shots are now falling and the C’s are playing defense again. Brooklyn has two elite offensive players that are going to be tough to stop, but the Celtic defense can do the job for sure. It’s really going to depend on the offensive end. If Boston can replicate their performance against the Bucks, then they have a great chance to move to 2-0.
Tune in to Friday’s game at 5 pm on ABC.
Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas!
