The Brooklyn Nets on Friday stunned the Boston Celtics 115-105, rallying from 28-point deficit to beat the Eastern Conference contenders on their home floor in the biggest comeback win of the NBA season.
Mikal Bridges scored 38 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Cameron Johnson, celebrating his 27th birthday, added 20 points for Brooklyn, who have struggled to find their form since trades last month saw stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant depart.
They had lost four straight, including a blowout loss to the New York Knicks on Wednesday, and looked to be heading for another lopsided defeat when the Celtics took a 51-23 lead with 7 minutes, 23 seconds left in the second quarter.
Photo: AP
“We just kept fighting,” Bridges said. “We just kept fighting, we got stops and that was the biggest thing — defense and getting out in transition, but it all started with our defense.”
The Nets had whittled the deficit to nine points at halftime and took the lead for the first time — and for good — with 6 minutes, 11 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
The win marked the biggest comeback of the season, eclipsing the Los Angeles Lakers’ fightback from a 27-point deficit in a victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
Photo: AP
“We ain’t gonna stop playing no matter what the score is,” said Bridges, who arrived in the trade that sent Durant to the Phoenix Suns.
Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 35 points. Jayson Tatum, celebrating his 25th birthday, added 22 points with 13 rebounds, but the Celtics have lost two of their past three and slipped a bit further behind the Milwaukee Bucks atop the East.
“We got off to a really good start playing the right way and we just took the foot off the gas and it cost us,” said Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, who also saw center Robert Williams depart early in the third quarter with a tight left hamstring. “You can’t be comfortable.”
Elsewhere on Friday, it was:
‧ Bulls 104, Suns 125
‧ Hawks 129, Trail Blazers 111
‧ Heat 120, Knicks 122
‧ Hornets 106, Magic 117
‧ Kings 128, Clippers 127
‧ Lakers 102, Timberwolves 110
‧ Nuggets 113, Grizzlies 97
‧ Thunder 130, Jazz 103
‧ Warriors 108, Pelicans 99
‘BOWLINE’ AND ‘ARCTOS’: Roy Quaden was hit on the head by a boom, while Nick Smith was struck by the main sheet and thrown across the boat amid rough seas Two sailors have been killed in separate incidents in the treacherous Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, officials said yesterday, as a string of yachts retired in powerful winds and high seas. One of the crew members, 55-year-old Roy Quaden on Flying Fish Arctos, was hit on the head by a boom as the fleet raced down the New South Wales coast, race organizers said. The other man, 65-year-old Nick Smith, was struck by the main sheet aboard Bowline and thrown across the boat, said David Jacobs, vice commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. “Unfortunately, he hit his head on the winch, and
Champagne corks often pop and loud, boisterous cheers are usually heard around Constitution Dock when the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honors winner finishes in the Tasmanian state capital. There were no such celebrations this year when the defending champions on board LawConnect won the race in the early hours of yesterday morning, as it came about 24 hours after two sailors died on separate boats in sail boom accidents two hours apart on a storm-ravaged first night of the race. LawConnect, a 100-foot super maxi skippered by Australian tech millionaire Christian Beck, sailed up the River Derwent at just after 2:30am.
Liverpool on Thursday powered seven points clear at the top of the Premier League as the title favorites survived a scare in their 3-1 win against Leicester City, while Bruno Fernandes was sent off in Manchester United’s dismal 2-0 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Erling Haaland missed a penalty as crisis-torn Manchester City failed to end their dismal run with a 1-1 draw against Everton, but it was United’s travails and Liverpool’s remarkable run that took center-stage. Arne Slot’s side were shocked by Jordan Ayew’s early strike at Anfield, but the leaders recovered their composure to equalize just before the interval through Cody
HAT-TRICK PREP: World No. 1 Sabalenka clinched her first win of the season, as she aims to become the first woman in 20 years to win three Australian Opens in succession Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Taylor Fritz yesterday all clocked impressive wins as tennis powerhouses Italy and the US surged into the quarter-finals of the mixed-team United Cup. World No. 3 Gauff swept past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-2 to avenge a loss at the Paris Olympics, while Fritz took care of Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 in searing Perth heat. That was enough to put the Americans — last year’s winners — into a last-eight clash with China today, while Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan today are to meet defending champions Germany, led by Alexander Zverev, in the other Perth quarter-final. In Sydney, the in-form
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