VIDEO RECAP – FINAL: #Nets 85 – #Celtics 79

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The Brooklyn Nets defeated the Boston Celtics by a score of 85-79  in Boston.

This game will forever be known as “The Return” as Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett made their first appearance back in Boston after the summer blockbuster trade that sent them to the Brooklyn Nets.

Pierce tried to go about his normal routine and spent about 35 minutes in the Celtics equipment room at the TD Garden but nothing could have prepared him for what was to transpire once the game began.  The Nets were actually cheered as they entered the court for the first time in their history and it was all because of the two legends coming home.

The first quarter might have set back offensive basketball at least 30 years as it was downright UGLY.  The Nets shot 4-for-17 while the Celtics shot 6-for-18 so it wasn’t a shooting clinic by any means.  The Celtics hammered Nets on boards 16-9 and grabbed four offensive rebounds to lead 17-11 after one in a very disjointed quarter all around.  The 11 points makes it the  Nets lowest scoring first quarter this season.

With a few minutes left in the first the Celtics played a video tribute for Garnett and he looked very emotional and thankful on the bench with towel on his head.  There was a loud and long standing ovation from the Boston crowd roared.

Between quarters the second video tribute was for Pierce with the song “Coming Home” playing as the crowd once again roared and Pierce took multiple bows and blew kisses to the fans as a thank you.  The emtoions were running wild and it seemed to affect Pierce’s play all game long.

As the crowd game went on the crowd started chanting “Thank You Paul Pierce” during play.

Andray Blatche was doing work in the second which helped the Nets start the quarter on a 16-6 run to take a 27-23 lead midway through the second.   The game did not get any better and a perfect example of the putrid play by both teams was that Blatche missed three layups and one dunk in first half alone. There were wide open shots all over the place for Brooklyn and nothing would go down.

The horrible half ended with the Nets winning the second quarter 24-17 to carry a slim 35-34 lead into halftime.  Nets and Celtics both shot 32 percent for the half and the only way the Nets could scores was in the paint for 24 points.

Alan Anderson helped get things in order with back-to-back 3-pointers to bring the lead to 45-36 a few minutes into the third.  More bad basketball followed that for the rest of the third with the Nets catching up in the rebounding column and winning the quarter 24-19.

Brooklyn entered the fourth with Pierce shooting 1-7 with four points and the Nets leading 59-53.  The Nets have held the Celtics to an opponent season-low 53 points through 3 quarters.

In the Nets’ first 38 games, they held 1 opponent under 60 pts through 3 quarters. They’ve now done it 3 times in their last 4 games.

A Mirza Teletovic layup have Brooklyn it’s biggest lead of 12 points at 65-53 a couple minutes into the fourth.  The lead did not last and it was down to four points with four minutes to play until Andrei Kirilenko came up with back-to-back hustle plays to get the ball back and a layup to extend lead to 75-70 with three minutes to play.

Jason Kidd tried to ride the bench in the fourth sitting his vets for tomorrow night vs Toronto but he couldn’t and had them back in for the final minutes.

With the Nets leading 80-77 with .20 seconds left Garnett intercepted a Rondo pass and took it coast-to-coast for the dunk to put Brooklyn up five with  .17 seconds left.

Free throws sealed the game for Brooklyn in a 85-79 win in the ugliest game of the season.