The last two games for Brooklyn have brought the highest of highs and the lowest of lows — a thunderous comeback against the Miami Heat was quickly undone by a classic Nets collapse versus the Orlando Magic a few days later — but which team would they be in Boston?

Right away, the Nets looked determined to start the New Year off on the right foot with some fluid ball movement, fastbreak opportunities, and Jarrett Jack sporting a new headband. While Jack still struggled to contain Thomas defensively, a renewed, more focused effort on facilitating the offense lead to 7 first quarter assists. Although an early 11-2 lead eventually shrunk to a more realistic 56-55 advantage at the half, it was tough not to be satisfied with their effort.

However, and rather incredibly, it wasn’t just Jack’s new prowess fueling the Nets’ success, it was Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson’s combined fire emoji stat-line of 25 points on 10-18 that made winning this game an obtainable possibility. Off the bench, Willie Reed slotted nicely into the role once occupied Andrea Bargnani and followed it up with some of his best minutes in the NBA yet.

In the early third, Lopez was nearly decapitated by Jared Sullinger under the hoop and Jack did not take kindly, spurring a small scrum and inspiring the Nets to some of their best basketball yet — a crucial 9-0. However, just a few minutes later, Jack went down in a heap after planting oddly and would be done for the day with a right knee sprain.

The Nets, kings of the fourth quarter crumble, made it as hard as humanly possible without Jack running the show. Shane Larkin, his replacement, noticeably struggled and the double-digit lead shrunk and shrunk until it was no longer.

And for as much as it felt like this would be just another chapter in the Nets’ miserable fourth quarter diary, it just simply wasn’t. Which is not to say there’s no analysis to be had here, but make no mistake, they limped their way to the finish line. Given their obligation to attempt to give the game away in another spectacular display of shortcomings, back-to-back turnovers cut an eight-point lead to just three with 36 seconds.

Following the timeout, the Nets moved the ball around despite the Celtics’ full-court press, eventually finding Lopez under the hoop for a jam and his 29th and 30th points of the game. A Jae Crowder missed three looked like the nail in coffin before another treacherous Larkin turnover left the door open for a few more fleeting seconds. Following a prompt turnover by Young out of another timeout, Jonas Jerebko missed a great look at tying the game near the buzzer.

Phew.

Make no mistake, the Nets were 95% of the way towards blowing this one epically, the Celtics just ran out of time in the end. Their unfinished business in Boston was ultimately finished, but losing Jack to that brutal injury potentially has huge implications for the foreseeable future.