The Nets come into this game following a 129-105 win at the Washington Wizards on Sunday in which Brooklyn was able to use spurts in the second and fourth quarters to put away Washington long before the final buzzer sounded.

Simons epitomized the reality in front of Boston for that Nets loss, and was not being offered as an excuse for how the Celtics played.

It's the Celtics vs. 76ers in the first match-up of tonight's Coast 2 Coast Tuesday NBA doubleheader on Peacock. Live coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET.

The Celtics, at 61-21, won the Atlantic Division last season and reached the Eastern Conference semifinals, where they lost to the New York Knicks, four games to two. Seven-footer Neemias Queta likely will be Boston's starting center this season, while newcomers Luka Garza and Amari Williams provide depth at that position.

The Celtics responded with an 18-3 run, led by Jaylen Brown, to put the game away. Not only did the defeat drop the Nets to 2-12 on the season, it also dropped them to 0-7 in Brooklyn, matching the longest home losing streak in franchise history, previously set in the 2009-10 season.

On Friday, the Celtics returned home after a two-day break to face the lowly Brooklyn Nets in the third NBA Cup contest, the final tune-up before a difficult 10-game stretch that includes contests against Orlando, Detroit, Minnesota, Cleveland, the New York Knicks, Washington, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami and two against Toronto.

Naulls was, with Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, Sam Jones, and Tom Sanders, part of the first all-Black lineup in the history of North American pro sports in 1964, and a key part of three of Boston's titles in their golden age of dominance in the mid-1960s. He averaged 10.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game with the Celtics -- rest in peace.