Nets top Cavaliers in play-in, advance to face Celtics
The Boston Celtics have their opponent for the first round of the playoffs — and by no means is it your normal 7-seed.
The Brooklyn Nets secured the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference standings with a 115-108 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Tuesday night's play-in game, advancing to play the No. 2 Celtics.
Kyrie Irving led the way for Brooklyn with 34 points, 20 of which came in the first half on 9-for-9 shooting from the field, while Kevin Durant added 25 points and 11 assists.
The Nets built an early 40-20 lead at the end of the first quarter but had to sweat things one out due to a pesky Cavaliers team that was led by All-Star Darius Garland's 34-point outing.
The Cavaliers will now face the loser of the Charlotte Hornets and Atlanta Hawks play-in matchup to decide who gets the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Cleveland is 2-2 against Charlotte this season and 1-3 against Atlanta.
When it comes to the Celtics, the Nets are facing a team that they have lost three straight games to. The Nets eliminated the Celtics in five games in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs last season, though James Harden was still a member of the Nets, and Jaylen Brown missed the entire series due to injury.
Boston Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum scored 50 points in the Celtics' only win of the series last postseason, and he has averaged 34.3 points during the Celtics' recent three-game winning streak against Brooklyn.
He erupted for 54 points on Mar. 6 in a 126-120 win over the Nets.
Game 1 of the first-round series will be Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on TNT, with Boston hosting the first two games before the series bounces back to Brooklyn.
