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at 
Brooklyn Nets (1-3) at Boston Celtics (4-1)
Monday, October 17, 2016
7:30 pm ET
Preseason Game #6
TV: CSNNE, NBA-LP
TD Garden
Referees: James Capers, Steve Anderson, Josh Tiven
The Celtics and the Nets fortunes are intertwined since the Celtics own the Nets' draft pick this season and so when the Celtics beat the Nets, it's like a double win. The Celtics have Jaylen Brown, the third pick in the draft courtesy of the Nets and will have the opportunity to swap picks this season along with owning their pick next season as well.
Unfortunately, the Nets look better this season than they did last season. Brook Lopez and Jeremy Lin give them veterans in the starting lineup and Luis Scola gives them a wily veteran off the bench and they have some nice young players on the roster. In addition, their new first year coach, Kenny Atkinson, has them running and playing hard. They may not be as bad as has been predicted.
However, the Nets have just 5 players left from their 2015-16 roster. all the other players are new to the team this season and it will take awhile for them to develop chemistry. Along with all the new players they also have a first year head coach.
Possible Starters
PG: Isaiah Thomas 4
SG: Avery Bradley 0
SF: Jae Crowder 99
PF: Al Horford 42
C: Amir Johnson 90
Probable Reserves
Ben Bentil 50
Jaylen Brown 7
Marcus Georges-Hunt 45
Gerald Green 30
RJ Hunter 28
Demetrius Jackson 9
Jonas Jerebko 8
Jalen Jones 52
Damion Lee 56
Jordan Mickey 55
Terry Rozier 12
Marcus Smart 36
James Young 13
Tyler Zeller 44
Injuries
Kelly Olynyk (shoulder) out
Head Coach: Brad Stevens
Possible Starters
PG: Jeremy Lin 7
SG: Randy Foye 2
SF: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson 24
PF: Trevor Booker 36
C: Brook Lopez 11
Possible Reserves
Beau Beech 9
Anthony Bennett 13
Bojan Bogdanovic 44
Chase Budinger 34
Yogi Ferrell 10
Joe Harris 12
Jorge Gutierrez 0
Justin Hamilton 41
Sean Kilpatrick 6
Chris McCullough 1
Egidijus Mockevicius 55
Luuis Scola 4
Greivis Vasquez 21
Isaiah Whitehead 15
Injuries
Caris LeVert (foot) out
Head Coach
Kenny Atkinson
vs Isaiah Thomas vs Jeremy Lin
Linsanity is back in the Big Apple with Jeremy Lin joining the Nets this season. He is averaging 16.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. In their first meeting Lin was able to limit Isaiah's production but Smart and Rozier were able to limit Lin. With the Celtics still limiting starters' minutes, Lin will see a lot of Rozier and Smart in this game.
vs Amir Johnson vs Brook Lopez
Lopez is averaging 7.3 points and 2.3 rebounds and he is capable of putting up big numbers and the Celtics need to keep him from doing so.
Honorable Mention
Jonas Jerebko vs Luis Scola
Scola gave the Celtics all they could handle in the first meeting scoring 14 points to go with 11 rebounds and 5 assists. The Celtics need to try to limit his production in this game.
Keys to the Game
Defense - Defense wins games. The Celtics have the players to be a top defensive team and they need to work together to play tough team defense. They especially need to play tough perimeter defense since the Nets have been shooting at least 33 three pointers per game and the Celtics need to keep them from hitting a high percentage of them.
Rebound - The Celtics can't score if they don't have the ball. They need to crash the boards to give themselves extra possessions and to keep the Nets from getting second chance points. Rebounding takes extra effort and when the Celtics put out that extra effort on the boards, it usually carries over to other parts of their games.
Be Offensive - The Celtics need to move the ball and find the open man in order to get open shots. They need to also take the shots when they are open and not be too unselfish and pass up good shots. Their 3's were falling against Knicks and hopefully they can hit them again in this game.
Teamwork - The Celtics need to continue to build chemistry and to play as a team. They need to keep their motto of "We are One Superstar" and continue to play for each other and the team. Hero ball rarely ends well.
X-Factors
It's the Preseason - With just 2 games left of the preseason, it would seem as though Brad Stevens would start to use a regular rotation to prepare for the regular season just 10 days from now. However, it's hard to predict anything in the preseason and they may start the 15th through 20th players. You just never know.