BOSTON — Deron Williams looks ready for the playoffs to start.
Williams was spectacular against the Celtics last night, finishing with 29 points and 12 assists as the Nets came away with a 101-93 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 18,624 inside TD Garden.
With the win, the Nets moved closer to wrapping up fourth place in the Eastern Conference and clinching homecourt advantage in the first round. They own a 3 ¹/₂ -game edge over idle Chicago with four games left to play in the regular season.
The Bulls play host to the Knicks tonight at the United Center.
The reason the Nets (46-32) were able to get the win, more than anything, was the continued excellence of their star point guard. Williams was sensational from start to finish, slicing and dicing his way through Boston’s typically stingy defense with ease.
Williams even was able to make Avery Bradley, one of the league’s elite on-ball defenders, look silly. Bradley, Boston’s starting point guard, managed to play just 10 minutes after Williams saddled him with four fouls, and none of Bradley’s teammates fared much better.
It’s the kind of virtuoso performance the Nets have come to expect from Williams in recent weeks, as he continued his dramatic resurgence since the All-Star break. Williams came into last night’s game averaging 22.5 points and 7.8 assists a night.
He did a large portion of his damage in the second quarter, when the Nets took control of the game for good after the two teams traded baskets for much of the first quarter.
Williams finished with 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting and four assists in the second quarter alone, including a pair of slick passes to Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson, respectively, for buckets in the final minutes of the half to send the Nets into the locker room with a 53-43 lead, an advantage they basically maintained for the rest of the game.
As well as Williams played, it was equally encouraging for the Nets to see Johnson moving around well for a second straight game. Johnson finished the game with 20 points on 8-for-15 shooting, including 4-for-6 from 3-point range, as he continues to try and fight through both a sore left heel and a right quad contusion.
It wasn’t all good news for the Nets, though, as Gerald Wallace left the game with a left heel contusion. Already without Keith Bogans, who sat out a second straight game with a tight lower back, the Nets lost Wallace after he got tangled up with a Celtic and went down in the second quarter.
But with Wallace sidelined, the Nets got an unexpected boost from veteran Jerry Stackhouse, who ably stepped into the void and played quite well. Stackhouse, who started the second half for the Nets in Wallace’s place, finished the game with seven points, four rebounds and three assists in nearly 22 minutes.
The Nets’ Big Three of Williams, Johnson and Lopez combined to score 70 of the Nets’ 101 points, while Reggie Evans continued his recent dominance on the boards by pulling down another 14.
Paul Pierce led the Celtics (40-38) with 23 points, while Kevin Garnett and Jeff Green each added 11.
tbontemps@nypost.com