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Live blog of Wednesday's game between the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets.
FINAL: NETS 95, CELTICS 83: Check out our game story for the recap.
FOURTH QUARTER: NETS 78, CELTICS 67 (6:27): Jason Terry began the quarter with a bang, knocking down a three-pointer to cut the Brooklyn lead to just ten points. Key reserve guard Courtney Lee would hit the deck midway through the final quarter with an apparent injury to his left wrist. At the time of the injury, the Nets had once again increased their lead to 11 points with just over six minutes left to play in regulation.
END OF THIRD QUARTER: NETS 70, CELTICS 55: Boston's off-night in the offense department can be mostly attributed to the performance of their bench players. Jason Collins and Leandro Barbosa share the best plus/minus rating of any of the Celtics' reserves with a -9. The bench has contributed a grand total of 14 points tonight.
THIRD QUARTER: NETS 60, CELTICS 47 (5:12): The first half of the third quarter was really much of the same for the Celtics. They attempted to make some headway, but couldn't really make a major dent in the Brooklyn lead. Forward Paul Pierce has been tasked with most of the ball-handling duties for Boston in the absence of ejected guard Rajon Rondo. It's looking like the C's will need to go on a major run here in order to get back into this game.
HALFTIME: NETS 51, CELTICS 38: The Celtics are going to need some major improvements all across the board if they hope to make this one into a game in the second half. Brooklyn leads in just about every category, including rebounds (26-23), steals (9-4) and three-pointers (6-0). Paul Pierce leads the C's with 6 boards, but is just 2-for-7 from the field. For Brooklyn, veteran Jerry Stackhouse has 9 points off the bench, while Joe Johnson leads Nets' starters with 8 points of his own.
SECOND QUARTER: NETS 51, CELTICS 36 (0:29): All hell has broken loose at the TD Garden, folks. After Kevin Garnett was fouled on a shot attempt, a bench-clearing brawl would break out with Rajon Rondo and Kris Humphries right in the middle of it. Both men would be ejected for fighting while Nets' small forward Gerald Wallace would be called for his second technical foul, ending his night as well.
SECOND QUARTER: NETS 44, CELTICS 26 (6:02): Jerry Stackhouse, folks. The 38-year-old veteran has been on fire in the first half tonight, hitting on three of his four field goal attempts from beyond the three-point line. Stackhouse's shooting and some incredible full-court defense has helped Brooklyn to gain a commanding 44-26 first half lead over the home-standing Celtics.
END OF FIRST QUARTER: NETS 28, CELTICS 20: After taking an early-quarter advantage, the Celtics saw a small lead disappear as the visiting Nets began to shoot well from the outside, draining a trifecta of three-pointers in the game's opening quarter. Kevin Garnett led the way for Boston, scoring six points and adding three rebounds. Starters Paul Pierce and Brandon Bass went a combined 2-8 from the field in the first quarter. Brooklyn is out-rebounding the C's by a 17-13 margin, including 6-1 on the offensive glass.
FIRST QUARTER: NETS 17, CELTICS 16 (4:02): The story of the first part of the game's opening quarter can be summed up in two words: Kevin Garnett. The Celtics' big man has scored six points and added three rebounds so far, keeping Boston in the game against a hot-shooting Brooklyn squad. To this point in the game, the Celtics have yet to record an offensive rebound.
For more Boston Celtics coverage, check out our team blog, Celtics Blog.