Key Moment
Safe to say that 19-0 runs in front of your home crowd will usually deposit a notch into your win column. That’s exactly what happened Friday night for the Boston Celtics.
The C’s and Kings went back and forth throughout the third quarter before the C’s took complete control of the game with an unstoppable 19-0 run that was fueled by Jayson Tatum and, surprisingly, Payton Pritchard and Luke Kornet.
Tatum accounted for seven of those points while Pritchard and Kornet, out of nowhere, accounted for seven as well. Joe Mazzulla called on the two reserves out of nowhere at the at the 3:12 mark of the third, and their presence immediately sparked a Celtics run.
Pritchard scored two free throws after being fouled in transition, and then canned a 3-pointer at the 1:37 mark to give Boston an 87-84 lead. This was after the C’s had trailed 84-78 just moments earlier.
About 30 seconds later, Tatum drove to the rack and tossed an alley-oop to Kornet for a slam that kept Boston’s faithful on its feet. By the time Tatum banked in a 3-pointer with 14.7 seconds left in the quarter, this game was all but over.
That triple from Tatum made it a 16-0 run and a 94-84 advantage for Boston. Sam Hauser then opened up the fourth with a 3-pointer of his own to up the run to 19-0. The Celtics continued to sizzle the rest of the way before completing a 122-104 win.
Key Player
Jaylen Brown continues to be the yin to Jayson Tatum’s yang.
Brown broke the 25-point barrier for the fourth straight game Friday night by scoring 25 on only 16 shots against the Sacramento Kings. He shot 9-for-16 from the field overall and canned all six of his free throw attempts.
Brown’s performance went well beyond the scoring column. He also added in five rebounds, four assists and two steals while playing only 26-plus minutes of action.
Box Score Nuggets
- Boston shot 49.4 percent from the field and 43.2 percent from the field as a team.
- Jayson Tatum scored 30 points on 10-for-17 shooting, and Jaylen Brown scored 25 points on 9-for-16 shooting.
- Five Celtics notched at least four assists.
- Boston shot 24-for-27 from the free-throw line as a team.
- No Celtics player grabbed more than eight boards, while two Kings players (Domantas Sabonis and Keegan Murray) grabbed 10.
- Boston built a lead of 16 points during the first half, fell behind by six, and then rebuilt its lead back up to as many as 27 points during the second half.
- De'Aaron Fox led Sacramento with 20 points.
- The Celtics limited Sacramento to a season-low 104 points and a season-low nine 3-pointers.
- Payton Pritchard played only 15 minutes but was a plus-22. He scored nine points on four shots.
Quote of the Night
"Credit to both Payton and Luke for what they do on a daily basis to stay ready.’"
- Joe Mazzulla on Payton Pritchard and Luke Kornet checking in and immediately changing the game during the third quarter