It took only one minute and 21 seconds for the Celtics to turn a close game into a breezy win Wednesday night in Brooklyn. The C's and the Nets went neck-and-neck for the majority of the night until Boston took over during the late stages of the third quarter.
The Celtics, leading 67-64 with four minutes left in the third period, strung together an ultra-quick 9-0 run to build up a 12-point advantage. The run began at the 3:57 mark of the third and ended at the 2:36 mark.
Al Horford opened up the run with one of his three 3-pointers on the night. Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson believed the officials missed a call on that play and earned a technical foul, giving the C's and Isaiah Thomas a free point to make it a 71-64 game.
Each team went scoreless on its next possession before Marcus Smart made the highlight play of the run. Following a miss by Justin Hamilton, Smart took the ball the opposite way in transition. He didn't have much cooking until he reached the free-throw line, where he put a nasty behind-the-back crossover move on Trevor Booker.
As that move came to an end, Smart spotted Tyler Zeller streaking behind him and down the right side of the lane. All in one motion, Smart wrapped up his move, dropped a perfect pass off to Zeller, and turned around and headed back the other way to the defensive end of the court.
He could to do with no complaints, because his pass was a no-doubt assist to Zeller for an easy layup.
That play provided the Celtics with a nine-point lead. Shortly thereafter, Thomas upped Boston's advantage to 12 by a 3-pointer from the right corner after a superb possession of ball movement by the C's.
All of that took place within 81 seconds. Boston's lead never dropped below seven points from there on out as it held on for a 111-92 win.
Avery Bradley has had himself one heck of a season thus far, but it had been a while since he broke the 20-point barrier – 14 days, to be exact, heading into Wednesday night's action in Brooklyn. He ended that streak with a strong performance against the Nets.
Bradley scored 22 points on the night thanks to a 10-for-22 shooting performance. He was particularly efficient from inside the arc, where he shot 9-for-15 on the night. Those 15 attempts marked his highest number of 2-point attempts in a game this season.
The shooting guard also had a bounce-back game in the rebounding department, where he has been a pleasant surprise this season. He totaled just seven boards during his last two games but equaled that number Wednesday night with seven boards in Brooklyn. His lone offensive rebound came off of his own miss, and he put the rebound home for two points.
Oh, and did we mention his defense? Bradley came into this season with his eyes set on the Defensive Player of the Year award. He certainly helped his cause in that conversation by grabbing a game-high five steals against Brooklyn. That total fell just two short of the Nets' team total on the night.
Bradley logged nearly 34 minutes of action during Boston's third straight win. The team outscored Brooklyn by 20 points while he was on the court.
Marcus Smart on Boston's evolving defense.
