Kemba Walker scored 39 points, and the Boston Celtics went on a 9-0 run in the third quarter to beat the Brooklyn Nets 121-110.
The Nets led 83-82 when Jaylen Brown’s tip-in put the Celtics ahead for good with 2:27 left in the third quarter. They took a 91-83 lead with 47 seconds left in the quarter and led by as many as 13 in the fourth quarter.
The Nets got within 104-101 on Garrett Temple’s 3-pointer with 5:28 to play, but Walker answered with a 3-pointer, and the Nets got no closer.
Early in the fourth quarter, Enes Freedom had 2 of his 4 steals, and the Celtics scored 4 points off them.
Brown had 22 points, 10 rebounds and 3 steals.
For the Nets, Temple scored 22 points with 6 3-pointers, and Joe Harris added 21 points (15 on 5 3-pointers) on 8 for 13 shooting. Jarrett Allen had 17 points (12 in the paint) and 14 rebounds on 6 for 8 shooting.
The Celtics went 22 for 24 at the line to the Nets’ 9 for 19. The Nets made 21 3-pointers, 6 of them by Temple and 5 by Harris. They gave up 19 offensive rebounds, about 9 more than usual for the shots the Celtics missed. The Celtics’ starters outscored the Nets 46-32 in 15 minutes together.