Six games into the season, it was clear that Nets Coach Avery Johnson was already looking for spots where a win meant more than just a win.

He calls them “breakthrough moments” — those seminal games the team can use as a springboard, toward where it thinks it can be, toward where the Boston Celtics currently are.

So Thursday night’s matchup was more than just an exercise to show off the Nets’ plush new arena in front of a national television audience. It was that rare early chance for a statement.