The Brooklyn Nets pay a visit to Kyrie Irving’s old team, the Boston Celtics on Tuesday. It’s the first time the two teams have met since Black Friday — a game the Nets won after losing their previous matchup only two days before.
The two teams have gone in different directions since they last met. Nets fans know all too well what’s gone wrong with their injured superstars. Meanwhile, Boston has seen some of its young players take their game to another level.
Nets Wire caught up with the managing editor of our sister site Celtics Wire, Justin Quinn, for the lowdown on all things Celtics to give Brooklyn fans a better idea of what’s going on their team’s next opponent.
What’s changed since the Boston Celtics last faced the Brooklyn Nets?
Well, a lot actually.
The two teams last met in late November, twice in two days — Nov. 27 and 29. As some of your readers recall, they split the pair of contests with each team winning at home. Since then, Boston has mostly shaken off its early-season rust that saw the Celtics slow to start games, often fighting their way back from down double digits as a result.
By mid-season, the team really began to click, and as the schedule got busier and then tougher as well, Boston didn’t flinch.
By the time the All-Star break arrived in early February, the Celtics were well on their way to cementing a reputation as a legitimate contender, and the emergence of Jayson Tatum after the All-Star Game as a 30-point-per-game scorer has only further solidified that perception. In the hunt for the second seed in the East with their toughest stretches of games behind them, the primary focus is staying healthy for the rest of the season.
All-Star point guard Kemba Walker looks poised to return from a long absence, and second-year center Robert Williams III — while cleared to play — has yet to log some game time since missing two months to a severely bruised hip.
What does each team need to do to win?
For Boston, show up as healthy as possible — and not take Brooklyn for granted. The Nets have already demonstrated they can punch Boston hard enough to come away with a win even without Kyrie Irving, and may be without both Tatum and super-sixth man Marcus Smart, both of whom fell ill on Monday.
For Brooklyn, some of the pick-and-roll action of Spencer Dinwiddie and Jarret Allen has worked well against the Celtics in the past, though they may be less open to playing Enes Kanter against the Nets for that very reason. But more generally, if Brooklyn can play the connected, high-energy style that brought them so much success early in the season with good fundamentals and execution, they might just steal a road win against a thinner-than-usual Boston rotation.
Is there anything else we need to know?
The return of Kemba Walker may help pick up some slack if Smart and/or Tatum need a game off to get well, but he’ll likely be playing 25 minutes or perhaps even less, as the team prioritizes his postseason availability far above whatever he might be able to do in this game.
Conversely, if Tatum is available to play and is anything like his usual self, it’ll be a tough night for the Nets with the way he’s been playing in recent weeks. The Duke product joined an elite cadre of former Celtics by averaging over 30 points per game for the month of February, and while his red-hot accuracy cooled a bit against the Rockets in Saturday’s loss, he still managed to put up 32 points, 13 boards and five assists.