BOSTON — Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart each scored 21 points, and the Boston Celtics beat Brooklyn 112-104 on Monday night to snap the injury-riddled Nets’ six-game winning streak.
Aron Baynes had 16 points, Marcus Morris 15, and Al Horford and Terry Rozier each had 14 for Boston, which tied a franchise record with 16 blocked shots and won for the sixth time in seven games. Horford had 11 rebounds.
The Celtics played without star guard Kyrie Irving, who was sidelined with a sore left hip.
D’Angelo Russell led the Nets with 25 points and Shabazz Napier had 20. Brooklyn had won 19 of its previous 24 games.
The Celtics took charge with an 11-0 run early in the fourth quarter. Brown capped the spree with a 3-pointer from the right corner, pushing Boston’s lead to 102-90 with just over 7 minutes to play.
Boston used a 14-2 run midway into the second quarter en route to a 60-50 halftime edge. Brown triggered the spurt with a 3 and scored seven points.
The Celtics played without Irving, who “woke up stiff and sore” and thought he suffered the injury in a first-half fall during a loss to Golden State on Saturday night, according to Celtics’ Coach Brad Stevens.
Stevens didn’t think Irving’s injury would sideline him for long. He said the team’s scoring leader would be “day to day this week,” with games at home against Charlotte on Wednesday and at the New York Knicks on Friday.
Irving is averaging 23.7 points per game. He had 32 points and 10 assists against the Warriors and matched a career best with his sixth consecutive game of 25 points or more.
Stevens explained the need to be smart handling Irving’s days he doesn’t play.
“He’s very open and candid when he’s not feeling great,” he said. “We’re very alert to that and want to make sure we prioritize not only the short-term health, but obviously to the long term. We were going to sit him eight to 12 games anyways, so when he has nicks and bruises it makes sense to sit.”
Celtics forward Gordon Hayward needed two stitches to close a first-quarter cut on his left hand, but he returned to the floor in the second.
Boston had a season-high 12 blocked shots – with Horford getting a half dozen – in the opening half, matching the most by an NBA team for a half this season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The Knicks also 12.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.