BOSTON -- Just one game into this year's NBA Cup, the Boston Celtics are already facing an uphill battle in their quest to make it to Las Vegas. The Celtics were completely outplayed by the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night, and have a lot of work to do to simply make it to the Knockout round of the NBA's second annual in-season tournament.

Facing an undermanned and seemingly overmatched Atlanta team, Boston played one of its sloppiest games of this season, coughing up the ball time and again and struggling to establish any real rhythm.

The Nets lost to the Celtics 139-114 despite being down just 65-60 to the defending NBA champions. Ziaire Williams had his best game in a Nets uniform as he dropped 23 points and

But when the Celtics play like they did in the third quarter, when they rang up 38 points and were 7 for 11 behind the arc, nights like those will be rare. Nets: The Nets should like what they're seeing from Williams,

In their second meeting in five days, the Brooklyn Nets fell to the Boston Celtics 139-114 at home. The loss followed a similar script to Brooklyn's previous falters against the NBA's top competition,

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