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Nets drop Celtics behind Williams' 29 points

Apr 11, 2013 - 3:17 AM Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Deron Williams scored 29 points as three different players netted at least 20 points for the Brooklyn Nets, who earned a 101-93 road victory over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.

Williams also handed out 12 assists and nailed all 10 attempts from the free- throw line for Brooklyn, which brought its magic number to secure home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs to two.

Brook Lopez added 20 points and Joe Johnson tallied 20 as well for the Nets, while Reggie Evans brought in 14 rebounds. The Nets have won three of their last four games and with the win captured the season series with Boston, 3-1.

Paul Pierce hit 7-of-11 shots from the floor to finish with a game-high 23 points for Boston which split a four-game homestand with the loss.

In his second game back after missing eight games due to injury, Kevin Garnett dropped in 11 points to go with eight rebounds and four assists. Jeff Green also tallied 11 points but managed to connect on just 4-of-17 attempts from the floor, while Brandon Bass added 10 points.

Coming off of a 20-point effort against Washington last time out, Bass got out to a fast start netting his first four field goal attempts, including a slam over Lopez. Bass' efforts spearheaded a 17-9 start for the Celtics.

Boston went cold however, getting just two more shots to fall the rest of the period. That opened the door for Brooklyn, which closed the frame on a 13-4 run, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers from C.J. Watson to take a 22-21 lead at quarter's end.

Williams missed all three of his field goal attempts in the first quarter but found the rhythm in the second, hitting 5-of-6 shots. Williams drained a 3- pointer and assisted on a Lopez jumper late in the second quarter as part of a 14-2 run that allowed the Nets to take a 10-point lead.

That advantage would increase to 12 later in the quarter on a 3-pointer from Johnson, but Pierce managed to keep the Celtics' deficit to 53-43 at halftime with a driving layup just before the buzzer.

After Garnett opened the second half with a jumper, the Nets rattled off seven straight points to grab a 60-45 lead. The Celtics managed to cut the deficit to single digits four times in the third thanks to 13 points from Pierce, but the Nets still led, 79-69, going into the final frame.

The Celtics kept hanging around and had the game within range, down 91-82 with over six minutes to play after Jordan Crawford slammed in a missed jumper over Evans. However, the Nets would score the next eight points of the game to take their largest lead of the game, 99-82, and essentially put the contest away.

Game Notes

The Celtics are now 27-13 at home ... Williams had just a single turnover ... The Nets connected on 25-of-28 from the free-throw line and 8-of-19 from beyond the arc ... Watson was a perfect 3-of-3 from 3-point range and finished with nine points off the bench ... Gerald Wallace left the game in the second quarter after suffering a foot injury.