Celtics crush Nets

The Celtics can struggle all they want, whenever they want. They can play teams that use six players, run into the Lakers on Christmas and play the league’s most game-intensive schedule in the first half.

None of that matters because as long as they’re in the Atlantic Division, they could play these teams with their legs tied together and using Tommy Heinsohn as their center. The Celtics, who lead the Atlantic, took the second-place Nets to task last night at the Garden with a 118-86 whipping that pushed their division lead to a league-high 12 games.     

The C’s (32-9) gave the Nets (19-20) a defensive tutorial in the first half. While Devin Harris (17 points, three assists) wowed the crowd with his playground skills, sparking the Nets with 13 points before the break, he was equally erratic. Harris had five of New Jersey’s 13 first-half turnovers, and the Celtics pushed the pace on the break and offset the Nets’ size advantage.

Glen Davis (eight of 12 points in the first half) knocked down his first career 3-pointer — a 25-footer before the buzzer — to give the Celtics a 30-23 lead after the first quarter, and the C’s stretched it from there. They held the Nets to 13-of-35 from the field (37.1 percent) in the first half and used nine fast-break points to grab a 51-41 advantage after the second quarter.

That’s when Paul Pierce brought the rain, drowning the Nets with 18 of his 22 points in the third quarter. He hit all five 3-pointers he attempted, his last being a dart from the right arc that put the Celtics ahead, 84-58. Kevin Garnett (20 points, nine rebounds) must have thrown the Celtics’ captain into a phone booth during the break, as Pierce was just 2-for-9 from the floor in the first half with misses on all three attempts from distance.

The C’s bench put the Nets out of their misery in the fourth, pushing the lead to as many as 33 while the starters got their rest.