Banged-Up Nets Rally Down 21, Fall to Celtics at Home

In a flip-flop of fortunes, the Brooklyn Nets nearly pulled off a miraculous comeback to beat the Boston Celtics at the Barclays Center. All season long, it's been the Nets who cannot seem to close out would-be wins against top-tier competition. In last night's 115-113 loss, Brooklyn nearly enacted the blueprint against the reigning champs.

Sans Cam Thomas — who will miss the remainder of the 2024-25 season with a hamstring injury — Cam Johnson led the Nets with 23 points and 10 rebounds in the losing effort.

Once down as much as 21, Jordi Fernandez's group rallied to cut their deficit to just two with nearly eight minutes to play in regulation. Behind Johnson, Maxwell Lewis and Keon Johnson, the Nets' offense picked up in the second half an put an immense amount of pressure on the shorthanded Celtics.

Without Al Horford or Derrick White, Boston began to crumble. However, the Celtics' key returnee — Kristaps Porzingis — prevented any last-second heartbreak. As Brooklyn trailed 94-92, Porzingis converted an and-one opportunity just before hitting a massive 3-pointer, his only one on the evening, to push the advantage right back to eight.

Despite shooting just 1-of-7 from deep, Porzingis was fantastic in his return. Capitalizing on a Nic Claxton-less frontcourt, the veteran big man tallied 24 points in 32 minutes of action, guiding Boston to its seventh win in 10 tries.

In another close loss to one of the NBA's best, the Nets' offense was finally an X-factor. While it took until the late stages of the tilt to become apparent, the balanced scoring attack which garnered so much success in February was on full display.

Lewis exploded for a career-high 15 points, connecting on all three of his triple attemps and finishing the game shooting 6-of-7. In just his sixth appearance with Brooklyn since being acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers as part of December's D'Angelo Russell deal, Lewis flashed as a potential rotational player moving forward.

His perfect contribution to the Nets' three-point percentage was only one aspect of the hot shooting night. Jalen Wilson rattled in four of his eight attempts from deep, Johnson netted five of his nine and Ziaire Williams connected on four-of-seven. Overall, Brooklyn shot 43.6% from beyond the arc en route to hanging 113 points on the league's third-ranked defense.

With Thomas out for the season — effectively ending any hopes of sneaking into the postseason — performances such as this are vital to the Nets' draft lottery chances. Proving its ability to compete with top talent while falling just short to preserve its odds, Brooklyn's focus will be on the future — not the present.

In a quick turnaround, the Nets play host to the Atlanta Hawks for the second half of a back-to-back tonight at 6 p.m. EST.

To access the final box score from the Nets' loss to the Celtics, click here.

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