November 22, 2015, Queens, NY They never trailed. And the game was getting out of hand. Then, the Boston Celtics stormed back and cut it to four. But, the Brooklyn Nets held them off in the fourth quarter because of the theatrics of one Jarrett Jack. On Friday, the Nets were Massacred by the Celtics. Tonight, the Nets got their revenge beating their division rivals, 111-101 at Barclays Center, the second game of a home-and-home series.
The Nets grabbed the lead early and led after the first quarter by five, 24-19. The second quarter ended up being their best quarter. They outscored the Celtics 35-23 to go up 59-42 by halftime. However, this is the NBA and no lead is actually safe after one half of basketball. The Celtics cut the Nets’ lead to eight, heading into the final quarter down 86-78–definitely within striking distance.
That’s when Jarrett Jack went to work and became Action Jack. He scored 12 points in the fourth to hold off the Celtics and give the Nets their third win of the year to go 3-11 and drop the Celtics to 7-6.
The Celtics got the bulk of their scoring from their guards. Isaiah Thomas scored 27 points to go with 6 assists. Avery Bradley also scored 27 and grabbed 4 rebounds, and back-up guard Evan Turner had 13 points and 7 rebounds.
The Nets were led in scoring by center Brook Lopez who got a double-double (23 points and 10 rebounds). His partner in crime on the boards was Thaddeus Young who grabbed 12 rebounds to go with his 11 points. Jarrett Jack scored 22 points. Joe Johnson and Andrea Bargnani scored 17 and 12 points respectively.
The Nets shot 50.6% from the field, and the Celtics were 42.7% from the field. The big difference was on the boards where the Nets outrebounded the Celtics, 49-35.
The Nets play the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, November 25th, at 8:00 p.m. (EST). The game will be aired over the YES Network.
Professor Clifford Benton can be reached at @cliffordbenton.