Drained on the finish of a four-game West Coast swing, the Celtics turned of their worst capturing efficiency of the season in Wednesday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets.
Two nights later, they delivered among the finest in NBA historical past.
Again on the TD Backyard parquet for the primary time in 15 days, Boston walloped the Brooklyn Nets 148-111 whereas capturing an eye-popping 66.7% from the sphere and 64.7% from 3-point vary (22-for-34).
The Celtics had been capturing practically 70% earlier than late misses by end-of-the-bench gamers dropped their common. Even with that dip, their 80.8% efficient field-goal share was a single-game NBA file, as was their 82.6% true capturing share.
Jaylen Brown was on tempo for his fourth triple-double of the season earlier than sitting out all the fourth quarter together with his workforce up huge. Boston’s prime choice completed with 28 factors, 9 assists and 7 rebounds on uber-efficient 9-of-12 capturing (4-for-4 from three).
The lopsided win additionally featured Nikola Vucevic’s greatest recreation in Celtics inexperienced. The veteran huge man bounced again from his 1-for-7 eyesore towards Denver by scoring 28 factors on 9-of-13, hitting all three of his 3-pointers and all seven of his free throws, and registering 11 rebounds, 4 assists and a block in 35 minutes.
Vucevic was a plus-35 within the win, second solely to the plus-40 posted by Payton Pritchard, who additionally struggled towards the Nuggets. Pritchard’s ultimate line: 22 factors, 9-for-12, 4-for-5 from three, six assists in 28 minutes.
The 15-win Nets are one of many NBA’s worst groups — solely Indiana and Sacramento owned worse data coming into Friday — however they performed the Celtics powerful within the groups’ earlier two matchups, profitable on Causeway Avenue on Nov. 21 and dropping in double time beyond regulation on Jan. 23. This one was shut for a lot of the primary half, however the C’s blew them away by scoring 43 factors within the third quarter and 39 within the fourth.
Boston will host the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night time (8 p.m.).
Neemias Queta opened the sport with a powerful defensive show, registering two steals and a block within the first 2:13 after tipoff. A type of led to a fast-break dunk that gave Boston an early 7-2 lead. Queta adopted that up with two fast fouls, nonetheless, and head coach Joe Mazzulla changed him with Nikola Vucevic after 4 minutes.
Vucevic then spearheaded a supremely environment friendly first quarter by Boston’s offense, which shot a scorching 70% from the sphere (14-for-20) and made all six of its 3-point makes an attempt. The veteran huge man tallied 10 factors and 5 rebounds within the opening body regardless of lacking just a few bunnies across the basket.
Derrick White and Baylor Scheierman shot a mixed 5-for-5 from deep within the first. Payton Pritchard added two triples early within the second. The Celtics’ shakiest shooter early on was Brown, who scored two first-quarter factors whereas going 0-for-4 from the foul line.
The Nets — who had misplaced their earlier six video games and 9 of their final 11 — hung round, thanks partially to a powerful preliminary shift by Josh Minott. The Celtics trade-deadline castoff scored his first basket in a Brooklyn uniform on a hovering poster dunk over Hugo Gonzalez, then closed out the primary quarter with a putback off a missed free throw.
Minott additionally transformed a contested layup towards Vucevic and hit a nook three in his return to TD Backyard. It was the primary significant taking part in time the 23-year-old had seen with the Nets, who assigned him to the G League after buying him from Boston on Feb. 5 and solely used him in rubbish time in his Brooklyn debut on Thursday.
Nic Claxton and Michael Porter Jr. mixed for 25 first-half factors on 10-of-18 capturing, and Brooklyn trailed by 4 with lower than a minute remaining within the second quarter.
A Brown-led scoring binge stretched Boston’s result in double digits early within the second half. The All-Star wing scored 9 factors within the ultimate 2:21 earlier than halftime and 7 extra within the first two minutes of the third quarter, interrupted solely by an help on a Queta layup.
The Nets rallied, ripping off an 8-0 run that made it a six-point recreation. However 3-pointers by White, Vucevic and Sam Hauser, plus two Brown free throws, put the Celtics forward 90-76 with 4:51 to play within the third.
These threes had been a part of a 19-4 run that broke the sport open. The Celtics then closed the quarter with an 11-2 run — capped by Brown’s sixth triple of the night time and a Gonzalez block — to take a 109-83 lead into the fourth.
Boston’s lead reached 35 factors earlier than Mazzulla started emptying his bench with greater than seven minutes remaining. It peaked at 41, with deep reserves Luka Garza, Dalano Banton and John Tonje all getting prolonged run because the fourth quarter wound down.
Tonje’s two factors had been the primary of his NBA profession, and Banton’s 4 had been his first as a Celtic this season. Each gamers are on 10-day contracts that expire on Saturday.
