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The Celtics beat down the shorthanded Pelicans last night, winning comfortably by 11 points. Similar to how New Orleans was without one of its top players in Zion Williamson, the Nets will be without Kevin Durant in this matchup — making life easier on the Celtics. Durant is the Nets leading scorer alongside Kyrie Irving, so the absence of Durant should loom large as they don’t have the type of talent or depth to replace his production and presence on the floor.The Nets will have to keep pace with a Celtics team led by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown that ranks 1st in offensive rating and 2nd in points per game, which will likely be an extremely challenging task. Boston is solid on defense, as well, ranking 7th in defensive rating; it should have success in slowing down the shorthanded Nets lineup. At full strength this would be a thrilling matchup featuring some of the league’s best scorers, but the absence of Durant makes the Celtics worth a play.