NBA Game Summary - Boston at New Jersey

04.16.2006

East Rutherford, NJ (Basketball News) - Nenad Krstic had 18 points and six rebounds to lead the New Jersey Nets to a 95-93 win over the Boston Celtics at Continental Airlines Arena.

Richard Jefferson posted 15 points and Vince Carter and Zoran Planinic each netted 13 for the Nets, who have won two straight and three of their last five contests. Clifford Robinson chipped in 11 points and six rebounds as New Jersey swept the home-and-home series.

The Nets are locked into the third position in the Eastern Conference playoff push and will visit Philadelphia on Tuesday and close out the regular season versus New York on Wednesday.

Gerald Green contributed 19 points and six assists and Kendrick Perkins totaled 16 points and nine rebounds for the Celtics, who played without Paul Pierce (left elbow bursitis) and Delonte West (left calf strain). Ryan Gomes scored 15 in the loss, Boston’s fourth consecutive and fifth in its last six attempts.

With the Nets playing most of their bench players in the fourth quarter, the Celtics rallied to make the game close.

Planinic’s layup made the score 91-82 with under four minutes to play, but Boston scored five unanswered to pull within four, 91-87, with nearly two minutes on the clock.

After Robinson hit 1-of-2 at the line, Green caught an inbounds alley-oop pass and followed that with a running jumper to cut the deficit to 94-93 with six seconds remaining.

Orien Greene had a chance to win the game but he stumbled trying to bring the ball up the floor and get a final shot off.

Gomes’ driving layup gave the Celtics a 15-13 lead, but the Nets responded with an 18-6 run, highlighted by Carter’s three-point play to begin the run, to take a 31-21 lead after 12 minutes of play.

Robinson’s jumper gave New Jersey its biggest lead at 40-26, but Boston reeled off a 19-9 spurt, capped by Green’s three-pointer, to move within four, 49-45. The Nets took a 53-48 advantage at the break.

Krstic’s running jumper extended the lead to 66-54, but the Celtics ran off a 10-1 rally, including five points from Gomes, to narrow the gap to 67-64 with 3:13 to play in the third quarter. Greene’s bucket with time running down made the score 74-70 heading into the final frame.

New Jersey shot 50 percent from the floor, while Boston connected on 47.4 percent of its shots, including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc...The Celtics finish their season with a pair of home games against Cleveland and Miami on Monday and Wednesday, respectively...The Nets have won three straight and five of the last six meetings...Boston has lost four straight and seven of its last eight games at the Continental Airlines Arena...Carter’s two blocked shots give him 501 for his career...New Jersey’s 49 wins are tied for second most in franchise history (1982-83 and 2002-03)...Robinson’s 1,226 three-pointers ties him with Hershey Hawkins for 16th place on the NBA all-time list.

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