Amid towering odds, the Brooklyn Nets pulled the unthinkable.
Down by as much as 28 points in the first half against the Boston Celtics, the Nets found sudden life and hammered a stunner over the powerhouse squad by capping off a marvelous 10-point victory on Friday, 115-105, silencing the raucous TD Garden crowd.
The Nets’ amazing turnaround from facing a 28-point edge now serves as the largest comeback in the NBA this season – handing the new-look team its first official signature win as they continue to move away from the forgettable Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving saga of the franchise books.
Mikal Bridges maintains his blossoming as the Nets’ newest main man, churning 38 markers and eight boards to lead his team on the dramatic victory. He shot 13-for-22 from the field and buried plenty of mid-range shots to carry his troops in climbing the deep hole made by the Cs initially.
“We ain’t gotta stop fighting,” Bridges on what he learned on his new team upon the comeback. “No matter what the score is. Whether we down big, we just gonna fight… we have fun and just keep playing together.”
Besides Bridges, Brooklyn also relied on the production of their other key acquisitions from this season’s trade market. Cam Johnson posted 20 markers, while both Dorian Finney-Smith and Spencer Dinwiddie registered 17 points each.
Royce O’Neale was also huge off the bench, finishing with his 10 markers and six boards.
With the win, the Nets erased their lengthy nine-game losing skid against the Celtics which included both teams’ first-round encounter last postseason, with the latter prevailing on a four-game sweep.
Jaylen Brown finished the disappointing match with 35 points and five boards. Jayson Tatum went off with a double-double of 22 points and 13 rebounds.
The Celtics have now lost two of their last three games as they now trail the Milwaukee Bucks atop the Eastern Conference rankings.
