Tatum, Brown combine for 62, Celtics beat Kings 126-97

Tatum, Brown combine for 62, Celtics beat Kings 126-97

ESPN BOSTON
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- — Jayson Tatum made seven 3-pointers and scored 32 points, Jaylen Brown added 30 points and the Boston Celtics beat the Sacramento Kings for the second time this season, 126-97 on Friday night.

Payton Pritchard had 14 points and eight assists as the Celtics won for the seventh time in eight games to remain in fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

"Great energy from the start," Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. "In general, offense crisp, good focus, regardless of who they were playing, and that's what we have to do."

Domantis Sabonis had 30 points and 20 rebounds for slumping Sacramento. The Kings have lost nine of 12 since the All-Star break and seem destined to miss the playoffs for an NBA-record 16th consecutive season.

"We had 12 turnovers for 20 points in the first half. There's no way to defend that," Kings interim coach Alvin Gentry said. "We can't play uphill against this team all the time."

Like they did in a 53-point win over the Kings in January, Brown and Tatum set the tone while helping the Celtics build an early 23-point lead against a Sacramento defense that left both with open looks much of the night.

Boston's dominant duo combined for 42 points in the first half on 17-of-23 shooting, then finished the fourth quarter on the bench with the Celtics up by 21.

Tatum finished 12 for 16 from the field and 7 for 10 beyond the arc while notching his 24th game with 30 or more points. Brown, who has 13 games with 30 or more, shot 11 for 18.

"We're much more upbeat," Tatum said. "We're having a lot more fun and we're winning. Once you're winning that cures a lot of things. It's always fun playing that way."

The Celtics outscored the Kings by 82 points in their two games this season.

BARNES BLANKED

Sacramento's Harrison Barnes did not score in 24 minutes. It's the first time that Barnes has failed to score while playing 20 minutes or more since Game 3 of the Western Conference finals in 2015. Barnes hadn't been blanked in the regular season since Nov. 23, 2014.

"We need him and we're trying to get him going," Gentry said. "It's also tough on you when you have an assignment where you're trying to guard Tatum and Tatum is playing like he is. But we do have to get him going."

TECHNICAL TIME IN THE THIRD

Officials handed out three technicals in the third quarter. The Celtics had two (coach Ime Udoka and Grant Williams) and the Kings had one (Sabonis).

HOLMES DONE FOR SEASON

Kings forward Richaun Holmes will miss the remainder of the season for personal reasons, the team announced before the game. Holmes, who last played on March 12 against Utah, averaged 23.9 points and seven rebounds in 45 games


"Richaun is a core member of our team, who is very important to our success," general manager Monte McNair said in a statement released by the Kings. "We fully support Rich and look forward to seeing him back on the court for the 2022-23 NBA season."

TIP-INS

Celtics: Boston hadn't won in Sacramento since March 6, 2019.

Kings: Point guard De'Aaron Fox did not play after injuring his right hand against Milwaukee on Wednesday. … Sacramento had a 14-0 run in the third quarter.

UP NEXT

Celtics: Continue their road trip against the Nuggets on Sunday. Boston has won the last four against Denver.

Kings: Face the Suns at Golden 1 Center on Sunday. The two teams have split two games this season, the home team winning each.

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Couldn't watch the game.  Clearly the Js had a field day.  The spread went from Celtics -9 to Celtics -11 just before the game.  I said "take the points", thinking the Celtics would take their foot off the pedal against an undermanned and inferior opponent (even when they are fully manned) and they'd win but not cover the 11 point spread.  I am happy to report I was wrong.  I'll take being wrong like this all day, all night, all the way through the playoffs.

Payton Pritchard highlights.  It's been a while since he had one of those.  We need him to hit his stride since Derrick White is struggling.  14 points in 21 minutes on 5-5 shooting, 4-4 from 3 from Fast PP but, much more impressively, 8 assists and zero turnovers.  I don't expect that on a regular basis, another thing I'd love to be wrong on, but this shows he can do it.  It will put a little pep in his step and, just as importantly, inject additional comfort into Ime.




We shot 55% from 3, 22-40.  That's crazy.  Tatum 7-10, Pritchard 4-4, Brown 3-5, Fitts and Hauser both 1-1.  There's 5 of the 12 Celtics that played shooting 50% or better.  Smart and Grant both shot 2-5, which is still 40 frippin' percent!  Horford was 0-1 (so what?), Theis was 1-3 (another so what?) but White was 1-5.  Ime is saying that White is a better shooter than he's been showing, but after 386 minutes and 67 3pt fgas in 15 games he's only shooting 22.4% since coming to Boston.  His defense has been very good, no complaints there, and his assist-to-turnover ratio is a stellar 3:1 (3.3:1.1) but shooting?  Nah.


Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
about 1 hour ago
After crushing the Kings, the Celtics have just 3 losses since the start of February. Their offensive dominance in Sacramento shows how they’ve become a two-way juggernaut that shows no signs of receding back into their old habits.

The game tomorrow vs Denver is very big.  A quality team, at home, 3 games into a west coast road trip at altitude.  This will be a great challenge for us, because it is not going to be easy at all.  We beat them in Boston not too long ago, they'll remember it.


Sean Grande
@SeanGrandePBP
A little more perspective...this year's Celtics to this point have the second best Eastern Conference road differential in the last decade, trailing only last year's world champions.

(Four Ime Udoka teams on this list, FYI)




Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 7 hours ago
And from 39,000 feet above Salt Lake City, your Saturday morning Celtics fan catnip... Nate Silver's @FiveThirtyEight site now gives Boston a full 5% edge on Phoenix and Milwaukee as the most likely team to win...
...the NBA Championship.




If you cannot see the whole graphic it gives us a 37% chance of making the Finals, the best of any team, and a 23% chance of winning the Championship.  Phoenix, right behind us, is given a 35% chance of making the Finals and an 18% chance of winning.


https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401360871


Bob


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I attended the game with my grandson. He's playing division 3 basketball at Solano C.C. and is being recruited by SF State, a division 2 school, and after the game he schooled me on how Sabonis scores with his left hand despite everybody knowing that he ONLY shoots with that hand.Footwork, screening with his own body, etc. I have to admit I didn't retain much of it. He and one of the numerous Holliday's cavorting around the league kept them in the game for awhile. Both teams were hot fom three early, but we kept hitting them and PRabbit caught fire late, while they cooled off. The Jays were magnificent.We had a ton of assists. They made a mini-run , but Pritchard and a second unit featuring JT pulled away again. I would estimate that 40% of the crowd were Celtic fans.Most of y'all probably watched the game, so I won't rehash it. On to Denver.

jrleftfoot wrote:I attended the game with my grandson. He's playing division 3 basketball at Solano C.C. and is being recruited by SF State, a division 2 school, and after the game he schooled me on how Sabonis scores with his left hand despite everybody knowing that he ONLY shoots with that hand.Footwork, screening with his own body, etc. I have to admit I didn't retain much of it. He and one of the numerous Holliday's cavorting around the league kept them in the game for awhile. Both teams were hot fom three early, but we kept hitting them and PRabbit caught fire late, while they cooled off. The Jays were magnificent.We had a ton of assists. They made a mini-run , but Pritchard and a second unit featuring JT pulled away again. I would estimate that 40% of the crowd were Celtic fans.Most of y'all probably watched the game, so I won't rehash it. On to Denver.

What I’m sure he was explaining is pretty standard as I had a lefty hook shot and jump hook, which I learned from watching my idol Dave Cowens, when I was a kid. Basically use your other arm or shoulder, elbow and nudge the defender, slightly hitting him first, then jump before he can fully react….

Good scrimmage game, once we went up early, game was never in doubt and we didn’t play as intense as some big games, but cruised to an easy victory. Once again the defense was stellar, even gave them some open looks, but it seemed like whenever we wanted to take it up a notch, defensively we could easily do it. 2 J’s went off, could have easily both went for 40, but why try to put in all that effort, for what a 40 point victory? But it was there for the taking if we wanted it that bad, definitely taking the leisurely approach to a 20 point win was fine.

Pritchard was locked in, great to see as his 3 point game is going to be crucial for the playoffs and a deep playoff run. Smart is making every right play. I used to think he was too slow for full time point, but now he’s shooting less and so efficient; he’s earned plays at his own pace/status, but it’s true, because he’s so much more patient, as is the whole offense. He’s got to be in the conversation for best defensive player and best defensive guard in the league, and with our defensive ranking we deserve a few more on the all defensive teams. We are going to be match up hell for a lot of teams in the playoffs, keep on fine tuning more stuff/plays both ends for the playoffs.

When the J's shoot the ball like this, the team rarely losses.

PP had a really impactful game. That is just what we have been waiting for. Theis also played well. Both AH and RW played short minutes as Ime knows we need them fresh for our B2B games.

Defensively, the physicality that the Celtics are playing with is noticeable.

This is what a championship contender looks like.

dboss wrote:When the J's shoot the ball like this, the team rarely losses.

PP had a really impactful game.  That is just what we have been waiting for.  Theis also played well.  Both AH and RW played short minutes as Ime knows we need them fresh for our B2B games.

Defensively, the physicality that the Celtics are playing with is noticeable.  

This is what a championship contender looks like.

Amazing turnaround, we are just killing teams lately. Love that it starts with defense, every championship team of ours has had a historic defense, this team is no different. I’m just shocked as 2 months ago, did not see any of this coming.

cowens/oldschool wrote:

dboss wrote:When the J's shoot the ball like this, the team rarely losses.

PP had a really impactful game.  That is just what we have been waiting for.  Theis also played well.  Both AH and RW played short minutes as Ime knows we need them fresh for our B2B games.

Defensively, the physicality that the Celtics are playing with is noticeable.  

This is what a championship contender looks like.

Amazing turnaround, we are just killing teams lately. Love that it starts with defense, every championship team of ours has had a historic defense, this team is no different. I’m just shocked as 2 months ago, did not see any of this coming.

Cow it really is quite startling to see this turnaround.  You and I are both on the same page when it comes to appreciating the impact of a championship caliber defense.

We stopped being an average team on January 29th.  We beat NOLA on the road and ended the day with a 26-25 record.  For all of the games before that date, we were up and down and unable to stay above the water line.

Since that date Boston is 18-3.  Our road record is a remarkable 10-1 during that stretch of games.  We have held teams to only 95.8 points per game in those 11 road games.