NBA Game of the Week: Celtics vs. Nets
The Eastern Conference-leading Boston Celtics will host the Brooklyn Nets at home this Wednesday in the TD Garden as they look to go head-to-head for the third time this season.
The Celtics currently sit at 36-15 on the season, and the Nets follow closely behind in the fourth-place spot in the conference with a record of 31-19.
The last matchup between the two teams resulted in a Celtics win, as they topped Brooklyn by a score of 109-98 at the Barclays Center. The Nets, now on the road, will be heading into this game without their star forward Kevin Durant as he has been out due to injury.
MVP candidate and Boston leading scorer Jayson Tatum is averaging 31.1 points per game for the Celtics headed into this division matchup and is ranked fourth in the league in that category. Tatum leads his team in both points and rebounds per game this season.
Jaylen Brown has been nothing short of dominant for the Celtics as well, averaging nearly 28 points per game. The Celtics will look to Brown to be the consistent strong right-hand man that people are used to seeing.
Both teams are more than familiar with one another, as they faced off in the first round of the NBA playoffs in the 2021 season, and then again in 2022. This matchup will bring together two teams who know each other very well.
The Nets have not seen immense success against division opponents, but have held their own with a record of 6-4 in matchups against Atlantic Division teams.
Kyrie Irving led in scoring with 24 points in the previous matchup and will look to lead the Nets into his old stomping grounds at TD Garden.
Irving will have to put the Nets on his back as Durant is still out due to a right MCL sprain, and is not expected to return for another week minimum. The Nets are 5-6 in games that do not have their tall and slim sharpshooter.
Ben Simmons will also not be active in the contest, while Boston will be able to start a healthy Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Irving is currently averaging 27.3 points per game on the season and contributes 21 points in games against his former team in green.
This battle will be a crucial contest for both teams as the Nets look to climb their way up the Eastern Conference standings, while the Celtics look to follow up their big win over LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers and keep their number one spot in the standings.
The contest will tip off at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night and will be featured on ESPN.
Brendan Conroy is a third-year studying Broadcast Journalism. To contact him email him at brc5392@psu.edu.
