Game 7 Recap: Nets 102, Celtics 97

Reggie Evans may seem laid-back and calm in this picture, but in the game--especially when rebounding--he's downright terrifying. Also, very good at rebounding.

The Nets don't really like to put teams away, it seems. Yet again, they jumped out to an early double-digit lead and let their opponent right back into the game via some terrible defense, isolated offensive "sets", and a simple lack of hustle. Frankly, they got lucky that the Celtics--especially Jason Terry and Paul Pierce, normally good free throw shooters--couldn't hit a shot from the charity stripe when the game was on the line. Maybe it was the ominous "BROOK-LYN, BROOK-LYN" chant, maybe Avery Johnson's bizarre fouling-while-leading-with-more-than-30-seconds-left strategy, who knows what caused the normally-automatic free throw shooters Paul Pierce and Jason Terry to miss a combined 2-6 from the line in the final quarter. It sure was a weird game, but it was a Nets win, and that's all that matters.

Brooklyn's 5th win of the season started off like many others so far this season. The Nets started off the first quarter hot on offense, spreading the wealth and draining a bunch of shots very quickly. Of course, the defense wasn't very good but the team ended up taking a 5-point lead after the first 12 minutes by a score of 31-26. The second-team picked up where the starters left off and extended the lead to 59-50 by half. Then came the patented letdown that has accompanied basically every Nets double-figure lead this season. Via a combination of horrid Nets shooting, classic Boston passing and court spacing, and improved Celtics rebounding,  Doc Rivers' team stunned the home team in the third quarter and grabbed the lead right back by the end of the period.