Boston Celtics vs. Brooklyn Nets Prediction, Prediction, Preview & Odds - 2/24/2022

Time: 7:30 p.m. ET

Venue: Barclays Center

Where to watch: TNT

DraftKings: Check back later

BetMGM: Check back later

Caesars:Check back later

Celtics: 34-26

Nets: 31-28

Welcome back to the land of professional basketball where things remain upside down from where we left them. In case you missed anything important, let’s get you up to speed.

The Boston Celtics went into the All-Star break as one of the hottest teams in the league, winning 9 of 10 and finding themselves back in the thick of things in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Who would’ve thought it would take a healthy Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for such things to take place?

It’s the identity that coach Ime Udoka has been preaching to find from his group this whole time, and man it has taken a bit to get there. The Celtics aren’t that far off from having Brad Stevens run the show, and quite frankly, not much should be far off from what happened when Stevens ran the show.

Coaching is weird and things don’t make sense, but here we are to that effect. The Celtics have found that groove and the hope for the visiting team is that there can be some sort of consistency beyond this. Boston did enter the break not on the best of terms. The Celtics lost 112-111 to the Pistons despite Brown torching them for a game-high 31 points. Even Tatum had 22 points for the hell of it.

Unfortunately for the Celtics, new acquisition Derrick White is still trying to find his way through the woods after a 3 of 10 shooting performance in the loss. Not often you can lose a game after shooting 54 percent from the floor, but I’d chalk that up to just wanting to get to the break and not taking the foot off the gas. Can’t honestly say I’m all that shocked or surprised.

Simmons becoming the greatest shooter of our generation, or Simmons bricking so hard that basketballs find their way to Queens. I sort of want that to happen just for the memes.

But really, what else can the Brooklyn Nets do? It’s not like they’re, you know, winning games at the moment. Don’t put this too far on the backburner. Even thought it’s felt like 10 years since they last played a basketball game, the Nets are still hot garbage.

The Nets are coming off a 117-103 loss to the Washington Wizards at home, with Patty Mills leading the way with 22 points in yet another game without Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. Good news, Nets fans: With the likelihood of the state of New York dropping the mask mandate, Irving could potentially make his Barclays Center debut in a matter of days.

Just imagine if he was available for the games that he had to miss. Quite a crazy situation, right? It’s as if he could’ve been there this whole time and this could’ve been avoided. Weird, right?

When your best options are Mills and Seth Curry, things can’t get any better going forward. The Nets, in true Gotham fashion are just waiting for the world to burn. Except this time the giant fire encompassing the state of New York resides in Brooklyn and quite honestly I think more people are bringing hotdogs and marshmallows to toast on this fire rather than put it out.

Things can obviously change in a minute once Durant and Simmons return from whatever they’re dealing with, and any day now I feel like that will change the complexion of this team. But right now all this team knows how to do is lose no matter the circumstances no matter how pitiful they've been all season. They've gotten two wins as recently as before the All-Star break, but I feel like a bunch of JV players could beat the New York Knicks right now. It's not that hard.

 

I would say not overthink this one and take the hotter team going into this game. The Celtics are the much better team, with more star power and more depth to combat whatever the hell lineup Brooklyn is putting out there. It truly is a weird lineup going with two small guards and everywhere else is a big man that can't dribble or shoot. Who knows? Maybe the Nets just needed a couple days off or something like that. I'm not going to hold my breath for the likes of them. Celtics by 10

The Celtics are 3-10 ATS after two straight games where they are making at least 50 percent of shots.

The Nets are 49-36 ATS as an underdog te past the season.

PG: Marcus Smart

SG: Jaylen Brown

SF: Jayson Tatum

PF: Al Horford

C: Robbert Williams III

PG:  Patty Mills

SG: Seth Curry

SF: Bruce Brown

PF: Kessler Edwards

C: Andre Drummond

Celtics: None

Nets: Ben Simmons (Out), Goran Dragic (out)

Points: Jayson Tatum -- 25.7

Rebounds: Robert WIlliams iII

Assists: Marcu Smart -- 5.3

Points: Patty Mills - 13.4

Rebounds: Blake Griffin 4-of 4

Assists: Patty Mills -- 2.6