Playing on their own floor and facing the New Jersey Nets, the worst team in the league at 6-52, you would expect the Boston Celtics to fix their defensive struggles and get on the winning track. Well, the Celtics picked up where they left off. They allowed Nets’ center Brook Lopez score 25 points, Nets guard Devon Harris score 23, and Nets guard Courtney Lee score 21. The only strong offense for Boston was the 25 points by forward Kevin Garnett and the 17 assists by guard Rajon Rondo. The Nets showed that they came to play after erasing a 12-2 start by the Celtics. Keyon Dooling’s two point jump shot gave the Nets a 29-27 lead later in the first quarter, a lead which they would never relinquish. The Nets led by ten after three quarters and extended the lead to 18 midway through the fourth, where it was cut to 6 by a Ray Allen three pointer.

Nets' Brook Lopez who scored 25 points in the entire game.

 The Nets calmly ended the rally with a Kris Humphries layup and two Brook Lopez foul shots. The Nets held on for a 104-96 victory. The defense of the Celtics simply committed too many fouls, giving the Nets 41 trips to the foul line, where they converted 34 of them. Compare this to the 11 trips of the Celtics, who converted 9 of their chances. This is a clear showing of how the Celtics also failed to draw fouls on offense and get easy points on foul shots, a bad sign for a team that’s struggling on defense. The Celtics will look towards regaining their momentum against another sub-par team, the Detroit Pistons. The game score was Celtics 94 – Nets 104.

- Dave H.