The Brooklyn Nets can punch their ticket to the second round of the NBA’s Eastern Conference playoffs and a date with the Milwaukee Bucks if the Nets finish off the injury-ravaged Boston Celtics in Game 5 Tuesday night in Brooklyn. The Nets are heavy favorites on the NBA odds to end it.

• When: Tuesday, 7:30 PM ET
• Where: Barclays Center
• TV: TNT
• Stream: TNT app
• Radio:com

Boston played Game 4 without two starters in point guard Kemba Walker and center Robert Williams and it was predictably a 141-126 blowout loss to fall down 3-1 in the series.

Jayson Tatum played well in the loss with 40 points, seven rebounds and five assists. He made all 17 of his free throws and was 10-of-22 from the floor as a whole, and his performance is even more impressive considering he didn’t score a single point in the second quarter. Those 17 makes from the charity stripe set a new career high, for the regular season or the postseason. He has been largely impressive in this series and is averaging 30.3 points per game in four tilts against the Nets.

Evan Fournier finished with 16 points but was just 5-for-15 shooting and 2-for-9 from deep. Considering Fournier doesn’t provide much outside of his scoring and three-point shooting numbers, he needs to bounce back in Game 5 if the Celtics want to avoid elimination.

Marcus Smart also had 16 points along with nine assists and six rebounds but was 4-for-12 from the field and 2-for-9 from deep.  Boston’s two rookies, Aaron Nesmith (11 points, two rebounds) and Payton Pritchard (12 points, three rebounds, three assists, one steal), played very well. Jabari Parker came off Boston’s bench to total 10 points and six rebounds in only 17-plus minutes of action.

It’s not clear if either Walker or Williams will play in Game 5. Walker is dealing with a knee injury and Williams an ankle. Walker popped up on the injury report for the first time before Game 3. He played that game but struggled mightily, going 3-for-14 from the field and scoring just six points. He did grab eight rebounds, but also had only three assists and five turnovers. Williams played six minutes in Game 3 before exiting with the sprained ankle, which occurred on the same leg that has been causing him pain from a case of turf toe for the past several weeks.

In setting a franchise playoff scoring record, the Nets rolled to a 141-126 win in Game 4 for a 3-1 series lead Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden combining for 104 points.

Durant became the first player in franchise history to score at least 35 points in consecutive playoff games; Durant and Irving became the second set of Nets teammates to score at least 35 points in a playoff game after Durant and Harden did so in Game 3; and the Nets became the second team in NBA history to have multiple 35-point scorers in consecutive games.

Durant finished with 42 points on 14-for-20 shooting. He has scored 32 or more points in three of his four games so far. Durant is averaging 34.8 points per game while shooting an impressive 55.1 percent from the field so far in the series. Irving had 39 points and 11 rebounds. He also stomped on the Celtics’ logo at the end of the game and had a water bottle thrown at him by a fan when leaving the court. It was Irving’s scoring output since May 6, when he registered 45 points in a loss against the Mavericks. The star point guard also tied his season-high mark in rebounds.

Harden finished with 23 points and 18 assists. The assists represented a playoff-high mark for him. He has dished out double-digit assists in each of his last two playoff appearances and is averaging 10.8 dimes per game in the current series.

Durant carried Brooklyn with 17 points during the first quarter, and then Harden (15 points) and Irving (11 points) combined to score 26 during the second as the Nets pulled away. Brooklyn scored 40 points during the second period on 70.8 percent shooting to compile a 40-26 lead at the break.

The Nets went into the second quarter trailing by a point with their second unit on the floor: starters James Harden and Joe Harris along with reserves Landry Shamet, Tyler Johnson, and Nic Claxton. Three minutes into the quarter, Bruce Brown entered the game for the first time. That group would open the quarter with a 16-6 run. The Brooklyn lead was 84-68 in the third quarter when the Nets added on a 10-2 run for a 24-point lead midway through the quarter.

Brooklyn generated an offensive rating of 143.9 points per 100 possessions — for reference, the Nets’ NBA-record offensive rating for the season was 117.3 — and Brooklyn had a 73.3 true shooting percentage for the game.

• Celtics are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 playoff games as an underdog.
• Celtics are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games following a straight up loss of more than 10 points.
• Celtics are 9-4 ATS in their last 13 road games.
• Nets are 8-0 ATS in their last 8 games as a home favorite.
• Nets are 7-0 ATS in their last 7 home games vs. a team with a losing road record.
• Nets are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 home games.

• Nets 120, Celtics 112

Odds and Lines : NBA Betting | Live Betting | Playoffs | Championship

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