The Boston Celtics will face the Brooklyn Nets later this week with the Eastern Conference's top spot potentially at stake, and while a bit of the wind has been taken out of the proverbial sails of the matchup with Nets star Kevin Durant out for the game with a sprained MCL as well as an outside shot of Marcus Smart missing the contest with a contused knee, it will still be a very important game for the Celtics.

More data for a potential postseason collision, the aforementioned top spot in play, and a chance to see if Boston will play the way they should despite the absence of KD all loom large. The growth of Brooklyn bigs Nick Claxton and Ben Simmons also figures to be a point of concern, and any time the team crosses paths with Kyrie Irving, things get intense.

To that end, the hosts of the CLNS Media "Celtics Lab" podcast linked up with the host of the Off the Glass "Brooklyn Buzz" podcast Nick Fay to talk all things Celtics-Nets.

The foursome get into how Durant's absence may impact the MVP race, what sort of trade targets each squad might have interest in at the 2023 NBA trade deadline, and more.

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