The Boston Celtics have won six of their last seven games. The only loss in that stretch was to the Oklahoma City Thunder, in which the Celtics shot 63 3-pointers.
Boston is hoping to keep their good stretch of play going and to get healthy for the playoffs. They still haven't been able to get their starting five on the court at the same time.
Boston now heads into a much easier stretch of their schedule. That stretch starts with back-to-back games against the Brooklyn Nets.
The Nets appear to be in tank mode. That means that the Celtics should have an easier time beating them.
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Brooklyn has been dealing with a lot of injuries. One of their key players who has been dealing with them all season long is Nic Claxton.
Claxton hasn't been able to be as effective this year because of those injuries. Ahead of the matchup against the Celtics, he is on the injury report, but not with an actual injury.
The Nets have decided to hold Claxton out of this game due to rest. He is one of several Nets players who will sit out this game due to either injury management or rest.
It's very clear that the Nets have embraced tanking at this point in the season. They are trying to be in the best possible position to land Cooper Flagg in the NBA lottery, although they are still far from getting the best odds.
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These next two games are part of an easy stretch that sees the Celtics also play Utah, Portland, Sacramento, Phoenix, and San Antonio. All of those teams are playing poorly and are tanking except for Portland and Phoenix.
Boston has a really good chance to stack up some wins now. While they are unlikely to catch the Cavaliers for the top overall seed, they will at least be able to keep their chokehold on the second spot int he East.
This season for the Nets, Claxton has averaged 10.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game.
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