The Celtics led by as many as 56 points and effectively put the Nets away before halftime


Boston won, 136-86, on Wednesday, nearly holding the Nets to a season-low by an NBA team for points in a game. Only 10 teams scored fewer as the Celtics improved to 43-12 with six straight wins.

Sam Hauser started in place of Jaylen Brown and Al Horford, who took the night off after last night’s close finish in Brooklyn. The opening minutes, with Ben Simmons out and Cam Johnson available on the other side, hardly resembled the flow of that game. The Celtics scorched to a 69.2% start at their hottest while the Nets started 25% from the field and 12.5% from three midway through the first half. Boston hit 11-of-22 from three into the locker room and kept pouring it on into the third, leading by as many as 56 points as Neemias Queta and Jordan Walsh checked in.