Key Moment
The looming NBA All-Star break did not affect the Celtics one bit Wednesday night. That was abundantly clear from the outset of Wednesday night’s matchup with the Brooklyn Nets.
Boston came out of the gates firing on all cylinders with the intention of carrying a six-game winning streak into the break. They accomplished that goal after building an early 16-4 lead that set the tone for the rest of the night.
Kristaps Porzingis drilled a 3-pointer to open up the game’s scoring, and Jayson Tatum and Derrick White followed up with two points apiece to push the C’s ahead 7-0 out of the gates. White was the leading scorer early on, as he accounted for seven of Boston’s first 16 points. His trend of scoring carried through the entire night, as he also finished with a team-best 27 points during the contest.
Boston continued to dominate for the remainder of the contest and eventually pulled ahead by 56 points – yes, fifty-six points!
So, yeah, as we said, that looming All-Star break didn’t affect them one bit.
Key Player
Payton Pritchard figured he might as well go off one last time before he heads into a few days of rest and relaxation. He was on fire all night during Boston’s blowout win over the Nets while tallying a game-high and season-high 28 points. He would have tied his career high with 30 points had the refs not missed a clear goaltending on his layup attempt late in the fourth quarter.
Efficient might be an understatement for the fashion in which Pritchard scored Wednesday night. He drained 11 of his 16 shots overall while shooting 6-for-9 from long distance. Those 11 made field goals and six triples were both game highs. In fact, his six made 3-pointers fell just four shy of Brooklyn’s team total of 10.
Pritchard rounded out his box score with four rebounds and three assists, and he was a plus-29 in 32 minutes of action.
Box Score Nuggets
- Boston from start to finish and pulled ahead by as many as 56 points.
- The C's outrebounded Brooklyn 51-31.
- Payton Pritchard led the game with 28 points.
- Derrick White was right behind him with 27 points.
- No player in the game logged a double-double.
- Jayson Tatum dished out a game-high nine assists, marking the fifth time in the last six games that he dished at least seven.
- Trendon Watford led Brooklyn with 15 points.
- Each team's bench scored exactly 57 points.
- Oshae Brissett stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, five assists, four rebounds and a steal.
- Luke Kornet and Nic Claxton tied for the game high in rebounds with eight apiece.
- Kornet also scored eight points, blocked three shots, dished out three assists, and grabbed one steal.
- Boston shot an impressive 57.8 percent from the field and 50 percent from long distance during the victory.
- Brooklyn made two more free throws (14) than Boston attempted (12).
- White was a plus-44 in just 28 minutes of action, and Sam Hauser was a plus-40 in 29 minutes of action.
Quote of the Night
"Our goal every day is to win the day, and we did that today. It's a good treat going into All-Star break, now winning this big. But we were just trying to focus on today. "
– Sam Hauser on Boston's lopsided win on the final night before All-Star break