Revenge travels nicely. Three nights after letting one slip away at Barclays Middle, the Nets didn’t flinch in Friday’s rematch in opposition to the Boston Celtics at TD Backyard, rolling to a 113-105 win to maneuver to 3-12 and 1-2 in East Group B of the NBA Cup.
The opening minutes made it clear Brooklyn had come to complete what it couldn’t on Tuesday.
The Nets set the early tone, sharing the ball and defending with vitality as Boston struggled to seek out its footing and fell behind by seven. However the flooring tilted quick. The Nets went chilly whereas Boston’s shooters heated up and ripped off a 16-3 run to finish the primary. Brooklyn’s offense flatlined for the ultimate 2:39, turning an encouraging open right into a 28-22 deficit.
Then Drake Powell gave them a jolt. Seconds into the second quarter, the rookie wing jumped an Anfernee Simons go, snatched the steal and raced the size of the ground for a two-handed slam over the very Celtic who’d coughed it up. The spotlight play sparked a 10-2 burst that briefly restored a two-point Nets lead with 9:44 left within the half.
After a back-and-forth stretch, Brooklyn closed the half on a 14-5 run and took its largest lead, 62-53, into the locker room. Rookie guard Egor Demin capped the surge with an aggressive layup, then added a steal moments later that arrange a simple transition end for Noah Clowney.
Demin led the Nets with 5 first-half assists, none sharper than a baseline whip to Powell for considered one of Brooklyn’s eight early 3-pointers. He complemented his passing with 9 factors on assertive drives to the basket and 5 rebounds, changing into solely the fifth Nets rookie since 1997-98 to succeed in 5 rebounds and 5 assists in a single half. Clowney, Michael Porter Jr. and Nic Claxton every reached double figures as Brooklyn shot 50% earlier than the break. The Nets turned it over solely 5 instances and held Boston to 42.6% from the sector.
And Brooklyn didn’t drift into one other sluggish third quarter prefer it did on Tuesday or so many instances this season. By the ten:22 mark, a Terance Mann 3-pointer created when Claxton grabbed his personal miss and located the open man stretched the result in 12.
Boston pushed again, however Jaylen Brown picked up his fifth foul with six minutes left within the third and the Nets up three, taking the Celtics’ high scorer off the ground. Brooklyn saved rolling from there, closing the interval on a 21-9 run with Brown on the bench to construct a 92-77 lead and quiet the TD Backyard crowd.
It didn’t final. Brown checked again in with 7:47 remaining and the Celtics already on a run. What had been an 18-point lead was down to 6 after a Jordan Walsh 3-pointer with 7:05 left, forcing a Nets timeout. Porter briefly stopped the bleeding with a triple on Brooklyn’s subsequent possession, however the Celtics saved pushing because the momentum swung their approach.
However simply when the Celtics appeared able to take the lead, Demin calmly introduced the ball up and drilled a 26-footer to push Brooklyn’s edge again to 5. The Nets adopted with a string of stops, Porter went nuclear offensively, they usually steadied themselves to go up 9 with 2:50 remaining.
Porter poured in 16 of his game-high 33 factors within the fourth, carrying Brooklyn to its third win regardless of Boston successful the quarter 28–21. Claxton delivered his first profession triple-double with 18 factors, 11 boards and a career-best 12 assists, the Nets’ first since Ben Simmons in 2023. Clowney stayed scorching with 19 factors and three rebounds.
Brown led Boston with 26 factors, eight rebounds and 4 assists in 32 minutes.
The Nets proceed their street journey Sunday with a matchup in opposition to the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Enviornment.
