– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BOSTON — Welcome back! And welcome!
The Boston Celtics saw the return of a key cog to what they hope will be another run at a championship before, in the midst of the action, they then saw the breakout performance of their newest teammate that might also be a sign of good things in the near future as the all-hands-on-deck nature of the playoffs looms ever so closer.
Kristaps Porzingis came back to the lineup after battling an illness and led Boston with 25 points and 13 rebounds as the Celtics, playing without both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, defeated the Brooklyn Nets 104-96 inside TD Garden on Tuesday.
Boston put the game away in the fourth quarter in large part to rookie Baylor Scheierman, who scored 13 of his career-high 20 points in the frame, making three of his six threes in the final stanza. He also grabbed three rebounds and recorded two steals in his 15 minutes of action.
Scheierman, the Celtics’ second-round draft pick earlier this year out of Creighton, carried momentum into the fourth after knocking down a three-pointer right before the third-quarter buzzer that gave Boston a 71-70 lead. After his sizzling fourth, and making six of his seven three-point attempts overall in the contest, the rookie left the court to a standing ovation.
Derrick White scored 18 points for the Celtics, while Jrue Holiday had 12 points and eight assists. With resting for the playoffs and a six-game road trip after tonight’s game in mind, Boston decided to rest their two stars against a team that’s in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference standings.
D’Angelo Russell led the Nets with 18 points while Ziaire Williams scored 15 as Brooklyn lost to the Celtics for a ninth consecutive time.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Tuesday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST photo editor Erica Denhoff. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 37 pictures in total.
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