BOSTON — Boston Coach Brad Stevens wasn’t about to completely praise rookie Marcus Smart’s performance.

Stevens didn’t miss something Smart did wrong directly in front of him.

Smart, the team’s first-round selection and No. 6 overall, scored 16 points and Jared Sullinger had 15 with 17 rebounds to lead the Celtics to a 100-86 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night in the final preseason game for both teams.

“I would argue maybe one shot, right in front of our bench, right in front of me,” Stevens said when asked if the 6-foot-4 guard had a solid game with shot selection and overall play.

Smart went 5 of 8 from the floor, nailing a pair from 3-point range.

He added four assists and a steal in 151/2 minutes of action.

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“Coach has been telling me to be more aggressive, attack the rim and then take the 3-ball once you get warm,” Smart said.

Gerald Wallace had 12 points for Boston, which finished the preseason 5-3 with its second straight win over Brooklyn.

Mason Plumlee led the Nets with 15 points and 11 boards. Mirza Teletovic also scored 15 points.

Brooklyn, which didn’t play any of its expected regulars, went 4-2 in the preseason.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Nets Coach Lionel Hollins said. “We’ve got a lot of catching up with consistency with one group on the court and what we do.”

The Celtics led 58-44 at halftime.

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Boston trailed by five early in the second quarter before going on a 26-4 run over a 61/2-minute stretch to grab a 55-38 lead on James Young’s floating jumper. Wallace had eight points in the spree and Smart seven.

The Celtics pushed their lead to 71-48 on Marcus Thornton’s free throw three minutes into the third before the Nets scored 10 unanswered points.

Playing with reserves for most of the game, that was the only real run Brooklyn made in the second half.

n Stevens said point guard Rajon Rondo is increasing his activity in practice, playing with padding to protect a bone he broke during the offseason.

Stevens didn’t update if he’d be ready to play in next Wednesday’s season opener after saying earlier in the week that he may be ready.

NOTES

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MEETINGS: One of the biggest issues on the agenda when the NBA’s owners arrived in New York for the board of governors meetings was thwarting the tanking strategy employed most brazenly by the Philadelphia 76ers.

A proposal that would reduce the incentive for teams to lose games on purpose in an effort to get a better pick in the draft appeared to be gathering momentum earlier in the week.

All that momentum disappeared almost overnight, with enough skittish owners unable or unwilling to sign off on significant reforms that could have widened the gulf between small- and big-market teams.

The proposal needed 23 votes for approval but only received 17, with 13 lining up to vote against it.

The vote means the existing system will remain in place for now. The team with the worst record will still have a 25 percent chance at getting the top pick and cannot drop lower than fourth. The board agreed to send the issue back to the competition committee for additional study.

CLIPPERS: Coach Doc Rivers said he trusts player Blake Griffin, and a police investigation of a man’s complaint that Griffin attacked him during an argument over a photo at a Las Vegas Strip nightclub shouldn’t distract the team.

No arrest was immediately made while Las Vegas police investigate a battery complaint filed Sunday stemming from what a department spokesman called an altercation over a camera.


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