Thomas to miss Celtics’ weekend road trip with bum knee

“I mean, obviously, Isaiah does so much for us on the offensive end and tonight we had to find ways”, Horford said. So, uh, not the game tape we’ll be showing aliens when they ask what basketball is.

Give the Celtics credit for defending regardless of how many shots failed to travel to their intended destination, but their offense operated like a auto without one of its tires, a boat on land, or an airplane without wings. Despite that nice run, the C’s only shot 31.8 percent from the floor and made one 3-pointer in the opening 12 minutes, and they led 21-16.

Early on, the Nets took advantage of a Celtics side still adjusting to life without the microwaveable efforts of Thomas, but some careless ball handling allowed the visitors to retake the lead.

Mavs 112, Wizards 107: Dirk Nowitzki scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, Harrison Barnes finished with 22 and Dallas boosted its slim playoff hopes with a win over Washington. The deficit didn’t last long.

The Nets opened the fourth by hitting three straight 3-pointers and led 76-73 on two free throws by Isaiah Whitehead with 8:26 remaining. Suddenly, the crowd -at least the Nets fans, that is -was back into it and the momentum was with Brooklyn.

At that point, Jeremy Lin was still on the bench. They have fallen into that far too familiar trap of letting lesser competition hang around, and that could become much more problematic without Thomas there to bail them out in the fourth quarter. Terry Rozier saw plenty of run on his birthday and took on the role of primary playmaker for the Celtics in the second quarter. Randy Foye added 14 points for the Nets, who are 0-11 on the second night of a back to back.

The Celtics responded with a shot clock violation – as Smart fell under the basket without a call – and the Celtics guard was then called for a foul on Spencer Dinwiddie. That sent Boston to the line for the rest of the way.

The Nets got off two deep 3s – misses from Lopez and Acy – before the buzzer sounded. And that was that.

“I was confident in it”, Lopez said of his attempt. “I think that some things that Isaiah does really well, we’re just going to have to replace by committee”. The Boston Celtics are averaging 107.6 points on 45.4 percent shooting and allowing 105.1 points on 45.3 percent shooting.

Lopez scored a team-high 23 points to go along with four assists and two blocked shots. Leading 50-47 in the third quarter, in used a 15-0 run to extend the lead and ultimately shut the door on Charlotte.

– Guerschon Yabusele, the No. 16 overall pick by Boston in last year’s draft, was visiting after his season in China ended.

“Credit to them, they hit some big shots at the end”, Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson said. Even pushing ahead thanks to a 12-3 to start the half punctuated by a Lin three-pointer, the Nets instantly looked much improved after their hard first 24 minutes.

With a combined record of 37-97, the Nets and 76ers are two of the Eastern Conference’s worst teams.