|
 Andray Blatche led the Nets with 17 points off the bench and Alan
Anderson scored 11. Pierce and Garnett each received video tributes
in their first game back in Boston after being traded over the
summer but neither found a rhythm offensively and combined to go
5-of-16 from the field in Brooklyn’s fifth straight win.
Brandon Bass scored 17 points on 6-of-6 shooting and Rajon Rondo — the only player left with the franchise from the Pierce and
Garnett-led team that won the 2008 NBA Championship — collected 13
points, eight assists and eight rebounds. Gerald Wallace and Chris
Johnson scored 12 points apiece.
A sloppy first half for both teams was overshadowed by the tributes
to Pierce and Garnett but the Nets managed to take a 35-34 lead into
the break. Anderson knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and Pierce
converted his first field goal during a 10-0 run that put Brooklyn
in control early in the third.
[to top of second column] |
The Nets took a 59-53 lead into the fourth quarter and opened
the final frame with a 9-3 burst to stretch it to double
figures. Jason Terry, who spent last season in Boston and left
in the Garnett-Pierce trade over the summer, hit a 3-pointer to
clip a Celtics’ run midway through the period but Boston kept
coming and cut it to 80-77 on Rondo’s 3-pointer with 1:03 left
before Garnett‘s steal and transition dunk with 17.3 seconds on
the clock helped put it away.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Boston’s 34 points in the first half marked its
lowest-scoring half of the season. … Rondo played 30 minutes — his most in the five games he has played since returning from
knee surgery. … The Nets have won 10 of 11 games in January but
had a string of four straight scoring at least 101 points come
to an end.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
