Nets Fall to Celtics in Double Overtime Thriller

The Brooklyn Nets fell to the Boston Celtics 130-126 in double overtime, two days after getting destroyed by 54 points by the New York Knicks.

With the Celtics up 103-96 with less than two minutes to go in regulation, it appeared the game was all but over for the Nets.

However, the Nets showed fight late. First it was a Nolan Traore layup to cut the deficit to five. Then Noah Clowney fought his way to the stripe for two free-throws.

Nic Claxton capped off the Nets' 8-1 run to close out the first 48 minutes of the game with perfect anticipation, coming through with two tip in dunks.

The second one came with 1.9 seconds left in regulation, with a 3-point look drawn up at the top of the key for Michael Porter Jr. with two defenders smothered all over him, as Claxton rolled off the screen and slammed Porter's miss home to give the Nets new life.

"I think the fight back you're down 10 with three minutes to go and you make it a game," Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez said. "We all remember... the mistakes that we made. We've executed late game well, and many games, especially defensively. And today, it was like two situations where we could have been better, like we're up five, they throw a cross-court pass and you have the chance to foul the center right there. And then probably we'll make one free throw and game is over. And we did and they made three. And then the other one is we're around the 3-point line and there's a miscommunication and they get a wide-open shot."

All things considered, the Nets' defense made life hard for Jaylen Brown and company despite the Celtics' MVP candidate registering a triple-double, finishing with 27 points on 9-of-27 shooting, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds.

Brooklyn's defense forced Brown to exhaust everything he had in him, as Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla's strategy to force Brown onto an island with Claxton clearly wasn't working. Still, Brown's ability to make the right play gave Boston all it needed.

The Celtics certainly had the benefit of having a lot of fans showing up to support them on the road, which is nothing new for them, no matter which building they're in.

That support was apparent when Hugo Gonzalez's wide open 3-pointer in the corner sent the game into a second overtime and Brown got an AND1 layup to go within the last five minutes of action.