Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets will travel to Boston on Wednesday to take on the Celtics in a tantalising clash between Eastern Conference contenders.
The Celtics, at 36-15, currently boast the best record in the NBA, while the 31-19 Nets occupy the fourth seed.
Fresh off a trip to the NBA Finals, Boston have looked like genuine contenders since the opening day, building an elite, championship-level statistical profile.
Almost without fail, the eventual champion will show signs of elite play on at least one side of the ball throughout the regular season. Last year's champions, the Golden State Warriors built their identity on a top-two defense; the 2021 Milwaukee Bucks had a top-five offense and top-10 defense; the 2020 Los Angeles Lakers owned the third-best defense.
This year's Celtics side are currently in the rare air of sitting top-five in both offensive and defensive efficiency, guided by two no-brainer All-Stars on the wing with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, as well as reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart and fellow All-Defensive selection Robert Williams III.
While games and series can often be decided by which team has the singular best player, the Celtics have been buoyed by the continued ascent of Tatum, who is now a legitimate MVP candidate.
This season the 24-year-old is averaging career-highs in points (31.1 per game), rebounds (8.7), assists (4.4), field goal makes (10.1) and attempts (21.8), three-point makes (3.3) and attempts (9.3), free throw makes (7.6) and attempts (8.8) – all while shooting his best field goal percentage (46.5) since his rookie season and a career-best 86.9 per cent from the free throw line.
The Celtics' elite record, profile and talent, combined with the fact they will be playing in front of their home fans will have them as favourites on Wednesday – but Irving and the Nets present a frisky opposition.
It is without question that the Nets have entered a mini tailspin since Kevin Durant suffered a knee injury against the Miami Heat on January 8. Brooklyn were 27-13 at the time but have won only four of their 10 games since.
Their ranks as the fifth-best offense and 10th-best defense for the season are both tumbling due to this past stretch, where both units have been the definition of mediocre, ranking 19th on offense and 18th defensively.
That is no fault of former Celtic Irving, who is enjoying a tremendous run of personal form. He has posted seven consecutive outings of at least 26 points and six assists, and after the Nets dropped their first four games of Durant's absence, they responded with four wins from their next six.
Also playing into Brooklyn's favour is the fact they are the NBA's second-best team away from home this season, while their 16-11 mark on the road is only bettered by the Celtics at 17-9.
Unfortunately for the Nets, Boston have also had little trouble at home. They own the fifth-best home record (19-6), and their overtime defeat against the New York Knicks on Thursday was their first loss at TD Garden since December 21.
PIVOTAL PERFORMERS
Boston Celtics – Malcolm Brogdon and Derrick White
Simply put, with Durant out of action, the Nets only have one superstar on the offensive end, and the Celtics have the perfect player to make Irving's life miserable. Or at least they normally would.
Smart became the first guard to win Defensive Player of the Year since 'The Glove' Gary Payton back in the 1995-96 season, and his impact on Irving has been evident in recent matchups – but he will miss this fixture as he recovers from an ankle injury.
Malcolm Brogdon – one of the favourites for Sixth Man of the Year – will take his place as the top defensive guard in the line-up, with help from Derrick White, and together they will aim to pick up where Smart left off.
In his past four games against the Celtics, Irving has only reached 20 points once, finishing with the following shooting performances: four-of-19, eight-of-18, seven-of-21 and nine-of-24.
Brooklyn Nets – Bench shooters
While Irving is the obvious focal point and the engine that will make the Nets run, they will likely need one of their shooters off the bench to get hot.
In their win against the Lakers on Monday, second-year spark plug Cam Thomas and veteran Patty Mills scored 21 points each while combining to shoot eight-of-11 from long range. The previous game, a rivalry victory against the New York Knicks, the trio of Thomas, Edmond Sumner and Yuta Watanabe combined to hit six-of-six three-pointers.
Watanabe in particular could be a game-changer, as he is shooting 49 per cent from deep – the best figure in the league among players averaging at least one attempt per game.
KEY BATTLE – How will Brooklyn slow down the Boston wings?
As previously discussed, the Nets have been a top-10 defense this season, but they will definitely be without the seven-foot Durant, and will likely also be missing six-foot-10 former Defensive Player of the Year runner-up Ben Simmons and six-foot-eight T.J. Warren.
It leaves them woefully undermanned when it comes to defending the All-Star duo of Tatum and Brown, and while Tatum is the exact kind of matchup Brooklyn had in mind when they traded a first-round pick to Utah for Royce O'Neale, they will likely be stuck with Joe Harris on Brown.
Watanabe, at six-foot-eight, and perhaps even six-foot-nine veteran Markieff Morris will get a chance off the bench, but the rest of Brooklyn's perimeter options are simply too small.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Since the beginning of February 2022, the Celtics are undefeated in nine meetings against the Nets, including a clean 4-0 sweep in the first round of last season's playoffs.
Boston have won both head-to-head matchups this campaign by 11 points – one with Durant playing, and one with him out.
Clippers' All-Star Paul George to miss at least two weeks with sprained right knee
The Los Angeles Clippers will likely begin the playoffs without Paul George, that is if they can make it without him.
The Clippers announced on Wednesday that George suffered a sprained right knee Tuesday and will be reevaluated in two-to-three weeks.
The regular season ends in two-and-a-half weeks and the eight-time All-Star is expected to miss Los Angeles’ final nine games.
With a 38-35 record, the Clippers enter play on Wednesday in fifth place in the Western Conference, but also just one-and-a-half games out of seventh place, which would put them in the play-in tournament.
They are 6-11 without George this season with losses in five of the last seven games he has missed, which does not include Tuesday’s 101-100 defeat to the seventh-placed Oklahoma City Thunder.
George was injured with 4:38 remaining when his knee collided with Luguentz Dort's knee in the air while attempting a rebound and he crumbled to the floor.
He stayed down on the court for a while until being helped off the court, unable to put weight on his leg.
Prior to Tuesday’s defeat, Los Angeles had won five of six with George leading the charge, averaging 28.3 points – 4.5 higher than his season average.
The 32-year-old is averaging 23.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 56 games this season and now the Clippers will have to figure out how to win without their leading scorer to get back to the playoffs after losing in the play-in tournament last season.
Zion Williamson cleared for Pelicans return but will miss two more weeks
Zion Williamson has been cleared to return to on-court activities but will need at least two weeks to get up to speed.
The New Orleans Pelicans announced Williamson's return to fitness on Wednesday – a significant boost for a team whose season has gone off the rails.
At the time of Williamson's hamstring strain in January, the Pels were third in the Western Conference, just a game behind the first-placed Denver Nuggets.
Since then, however, New Orleans are 12-23, slipping to 12th place on the outside even of the play-in race.
Williamson has not been the only Pelican to miss time with injury, but Brandon Ingram's return has not improved the team's fortunes.
With the Pels set to re-evaluate Williamson in two weeks' time, he is on course to miss a minimum of seven more games.
New Orleans only have 10 games remaining.
A return in the final week of the regular season could be just the boost the Pels need, but they could also very realistically be out of postseason contention by then.
This has been another season wrecked by injury for Williamson, the former first overall pick.
He played only 24 games in his rookie season and 61 the following year before missing the entire 2021-22 campaign with a foot fracture.
The Pels still handed Williamson a five-year rookie extension worth up to $231million, with $193m guaranteed.
Although he continued to miss games on occasion, the initial signs were encouraging as Williamson averaged 26.0 points through 29 games.
But the hamstring injury derailed his and the Pels' season, with time running out to set it back on track.
Kane's World Cup disappointment behind him as England record looms – Southgate
Harry Kane his World Cup disappointment behind him, England manager Gareth Southgate believes.
The Three Lions captain missed a decisive penalty in the quarter-final defeat to France in Qatar, continuing the nation's long wait for international glory.
Kane would have broken Wayne Rooney's international record had he scored the penalty, as well as potentially guiding England into the last four, but he fired his attempt over the bar and the Three Lions lost 2-1.
He is not alone in penalty heartache for England, however, with team-mates Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho all missing spot-kicks in the shoot-out defeat to Italy at Wembley in the Euro 2020 final.
Going back further, Southgate himself missed from the spot in England's semi-final defeat to Germany at Euro 1996, meaning Kane is only the latest in a series of stars to suffer penalty heartache.
However, Southgate feels that will not hold back the Tottenham striker and backs him as one of the all-time greats.
"We've seen that with his performances and goals for his club that he has put it behind him," he said.
"He knows he's going to have added motivation tomorrow [Wednesday] night to come back and show everybody what he is about again in an England shirt. For us that is a good position.
"It's always difficult to compare across ages, there a lot who I didn't see because I wasn't alive. But because of his goalscoring alone, that puts him in the upper echelons of that group.
"He provides so much more for the team than that, his quality of passing, his vision, his touch, he's an outstanding player and we're very fortunate to have him."
The honour of being England's leading goalscorer is almost certain to fall to Kane, who is tied with Rooney on 53 for the Three Lions, and Declan Rice feels it would be a just reward.
"I think you can see every time he scores a goal how much it means to him. Every goal, every training session, everything he does is at such a high level," the midfielder added.
"If he does break the record tomorrow, it will be thoroughly deserved. He is a real leader and a lot of us will be very happy for him if he breaks the record tomorrow night."
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