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<\/a><\/p>\nNic Claxton NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Celtics Reserves
Anfernee Simons
Hugo Gonzalez
Xavier Tillman
Jordan Walsh
Luka Garza
Chris Boucher
2-Way Players
Ron Harper, Jr
Max Shulga
Amari Williams
Injuries\/Out
Jayson Tatum (Achilles) out
Josh Minott (ankle) out
Derrick White (rest) out
Neemias Queta (illness) questionable
Head Coach
Joe Mazzulla<\/p>\n
Nets Reserves
Tyrese Martin
Ben Seraf
Day\u2019Ron Sharpe
Cam Thomas
Nolan Traore
Ziaire Williams
Jalen Wilson
Danny Wolf<\/p>\n
Two-Way Players
EJ Liddell
Tyson Etienne
Chaney Johnson<\/p>\n
Injuries\/Out
Haywood Highsmith (knee) out<\/p>\n
Head Coach
Jordi Fernandez<\/p>\n
Key Matchups
Jaylen Brown vs Michael Porter, Jr
Porter is clearly the Nets best player and is averaging 25.3 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1 steal per game. He is shooting 48.1% from the field and 39.6% from beyond the arc. In the 2 games gainst Boston this season, he averaged 29 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 1.5 steals while shooting 56.8% from the field and 57.1% from beyond the arc. The Celtics must do a better job of slowing him down in this game.<\/p>\n
Neemias Queta vs Nic Claxton
Claxton is averaging 12.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.4 blocks per game. He is shooting 58.3% from the field and 16.7% from three. In the 2 games this season against the Celtics, he averaged 12.5 points, 11 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1 block while shooting 36.4% from the field with no threes. In the Nets\u2019 win over the Celtics, he put up his first career triple double. The Celtics need to keep him out of the paint and be aware of him on defense as he is a good rim protector.<\/p>\n
Honorable Mention
Sam Hauser vs Noah Clowney
Clowney is averaging 13.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game while shooting 38.9% from the field and 32.3% from beyond the arc. In the 2 games against the Celtics this season, he averaged 16 points, 2 rebounds and 1 steal while shooting 47.8% from the field and 40% from 3.<\/p>\n
Keys to the Game
Defense – As always, defense is a key to winning this, and every, game. The Nets are 26th in the league with an offensive rating of 111.4 while the Celtics have an offensive rating of 121.3 (2nd). The Celtics are 13th in the league with a defensive rating of 113.7. The Nets are 26th with a defensive rating of 117.7. In the Nets win over the Celtics, they shot 52.4% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. The Nets shoot 40.8 three pointers per game (6th) and they make 14.2 per game (10th) so the Celtics need to especially defend them on the perimeter. The Celtics have to play tough defense from the tip through the final buzzer in this one and not allow the Nets to get any offensive rhythm.<\/p>\n
Rebound – Rebounding is also an important key to winning every game. The Celtics are 10th in the league, pulling down 45.1 rebounds per game. The Nets are 30th with 39.7 rebounds per game. It is important for the Celtics to rebound the ball to give themselves extra possessions and to prevent the Nets from getting the same along with 2nd chance points. Much of rebounding is effort and the Celtics have got to put out more effort than the Nets to grab rebounds for all 4 quarters.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t Underestimate – The Celtics need to stay focused and be aggressive from start to finish. The Nets have not been playing well, but they play hard and will always try to beat the Celtics. The Celtics did underestimate them in their last meeting and ended up losing. The Celtics can\u2019t underestimate them because they have lost 8 of their last 10 games. The Celtics should have the talent to win easily, but if they underestimate the Nets and come out with less than 100% effort, they be surprised with another loss to them. They also are coming off a 120-66 drubbing at the hands of the Knicks and so they may be looking to gain back a little self respect with another win over the Celtics.
Move the Ball Carefully – The Celtics are a much better team when they move the ball and don\u2019t lapse into iso ball. They are 17-1 when they have 25 or more assists and they are 10-15 when they have fewer than 25 assists. Even though the Celtics usually take good care of the ball, they lose focus at times and turn the ball over too much. They need to make careful passes and keep the ball moving.<\/p>\n
X-Factors
On the Road Again – The Celtics are playing on the road again after one game at home. They will be playing in front of a hostile crowd and have the distractions that go with travel and playing on the road. The Celtics need to focus on the game and not on the distractions that come with playing on the road and in an unfamiliar arena. They need to get some motivation from avenging their loss in the last game against the Nets.<\/p>\n
Officiating – I know that I say this every game, but the officiating always can be an x-factor in every game. Every crew calls the game differently whether they call every little ticky tack foul or they let a lot of contact go and let the teams play. Some refs favor the home team and some not so much. We have already seen a game where one non call can change the outcome. The Celtics have got to adjust to the way the game is being called and not let the officiating take away from their focus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics (27-16) at Brooklyn Nets (12-30)Friday, December 23, 20267:30 pm ETRegular Season Game #44 Road Game #24TV:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3767],"tags":[7,670,247,3803,38331,6,671],"class_list":{"0":"post-556392","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn-nets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-brooklynnets","12":"tag-celtics-game-previews","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115946746233245349","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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