The Boston Celtics may be headed to the promised land, while the Brooklyn Nets head for the lottery. Boston will try for its sixth win in seven home games against Brooklyn on Friday at 7:30 p.m. EST. 

Don’t think Beantown is just hot on its own fabled hardwood. The 38-20 Boston Celtics took a four-game road trip with a 3-1 record coming into this Friday’s fracas with visiting Brooklyn, defeating three foes by double-digit margins. Superstar guard Jaylen Brown is top-five in NBA scoring average, his 29.1 points per game soaring over names like Nikola Jokic and Jalen Brunson. Boston’s defense is the best in the East. 

Brooklyn has a scorer of its own licking at the top 10 in scoring, the Nets’ potent forward Michael Porter Jr. However, just about everything else is going badly for a team that’s crafting a tank job outside of one player. The 15-43 Nets are still struggling at home, of course, but their road record includes two blowout defeats within the last three appearances. The unbalanced offense is averaging a putrid 107 points per game. 

Nets +18 (-105)Celtics -18 (-104)Over 208 (-108)Under 208 (-100)

Note: The above data was collected on Feb. 27, 2026, and may have changed since writing. 

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Nets viewers may at least get to see their team begin trying to make the playoffs. Coach K, who famously stepped in when Team USA men’s basketball was ailing following the Athens Games, has been brought on board with a “panel advising Adam Silver” on the tanking issue, according to Ricky O’Donnell of SBNation. The league is considering a number of ideas to discourage teams from tanking out, predominantly a new set of rules to prevent last-place gaming of the Lottery Draft odds. 

Brown fared better in the Celtics’ early-season NBA Cup loss to the Nets than in Boston’s defeats of Brooklyn that occurred since then. It’s a parallel to how Porter Jr.’s best nights seem to be coming at the expense of his team’s fate on the scoreboard. At the same time, Boston’s coaches can ease off on the throttle with Brown’s minutes for nobler reasons than Brooklyn’s tanking brand. The Celtics must determine whether it’s worth it to try to catch Detroit for a #1 conference playoff seeding.

For now, expect the Celtics to rotate the lineup and rely on their defense against one of pro basketball’s weakest offenses. It could lead to an under-total outcome, no matter how low the O/U dips.