The Celtics improved to 2-0 on their West Coast trip in three games and their road trip in four games, winning 126-97 against the Kings on Friday.
Boston remains fourth in the East but is now 1.5 games clear of the fifth-seeded Bulls. The Celtics are one behind the third-place Sixers and 1.5 behind the Bucks, who are in second place.
Now for an in-depth look at what made the Celtics win in Sacramento stand out.
Jaylen Brown gives the Celtics a 32-26 lead
Jaylen Brown, who’s had consistently good starts, did so again on Friday, leading all scorers with 16 points in the first quarter. Brown did a great job using his size, strength and athletic ability to come downhill and attack the basket.
He also generated dots from cuts, something he’s very good at, and drained that beautiful baseline fadeaway across the backboard.
Post-game, Jayson Tatum said of Brown, who scored 16 points in the first frame, “That was great… It kickstarted our offense. I think we shot the ball really well tonight and it started with him…we all feed you that energy.”
Brown finished shooting Nov. 18 (61.1 percent) with 30 points, including 3/5 (60 percent) from beyond the arc. He also scored 16 points in the paint, went 5/8 (62.5 percent) on the free throw line, grabbed three rebounds and swiped two steals.
Jayson Tatum takes the torch in the second
Tatum snatched the baton from Brown and scored 17 points in the second quarter. He went into halftime with 22, shooting 8/10 from the field, including 6/7 (85.7 percent) on threes, and combining with Brown for 42 in the first half.
Once Tatum was heated, there was nothing the kings could do to cool him down. He finished the night with a game-high 32 points on 12/16 (75 percent) shooting, including cashing seven of his ten three-pointers.
Aside from being almost automatic from beyond the arc, he had consistent success attacking the basket and produced ten points in the suit.
Tatum, who dished out four assists, also made some sensational hooked passes from dribbling.
Both teams shot over 50 percent on threes in the first half
The Celtics and Kings were on fire from across the arc in the first half, including a stretch where they traded baskets in the second quarter.
Early in the break, Boston was 11/19 (57.9 percent) from distance while Sacramento, led by Justin Holiday, who went 4/6, was 9/18.
The difference was that the Celtics also scored 32 points in the paint compared to the 12 produced by the home side.
Maintaining his hot shooting, Boston continued to attack the rim in the second half, finishing 22/40 (55 percent) from beyond the arc and scoring 48 points in the paint.
Conversely, the Kings finished the night 13/36 (36.1 percent) from long range and scored 28 points in the paint, which is respectable but nowhere near enough to overcome what happened at the other end of the floor.
Boston’s ball and player movement were fantastic
The Celtics assisted on 33 of their 46 field goals scored (71.7 percent) and had plenty of hockey assists.
Boston continues to play determinedly to pass Tatum’s readiness when the double team comes, punishing opponents for deciding to send a second defender on him, and the Celtics are quick to turn a good shot into a great one.
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As noted in the headline, Boston’s offball activity was also outstanding, exemplified by this cut by Brown for two points on the rim, capitalizing on a lack of Kings cohesion as they attempted to zone the Celtics brake defense.
The inequality in the transition assessment
The Celtics did a great job taking their chances on the open court, registering 24 points from 16 Sacramento turnovers and catching 20 on quick breaks.
Boston also did an excellent job limiting kings in transition, keeping them to 10 points from 13 turnovers and giving up only two on quick breaks.
Wild third quarter gives life to kings
With 23 left, the Celtics got into a cycle of driving to the basket, often making contact, but never getting the call or firing their shots. That allowed the Kings to move against a defense that wasn’t set up, which they capitalized on, tearing down a 14-0 run to reduce their deficit to single digits.
The lack of calls led to frustration, which caused a technical at Ime Udoka when Marcus Smart drove to the rim, got hit in the arm, slammed the deck but didn’t get a whistle. Smart, who had complained about several other plays in the game, maintained his composure and he certainly appreciated his coach standing up for him.
There were also two other technical hiccups in this period, with Domantas Sabonis picking up one over his displeasure at missing a call in a game at the low post in which he scored two of his 30 points in his team strength. That technology was pretty soft, as was Grant Williams’ after he was called out for a foul that was inconsistent with how officials were governing the third quarter. What makes it worse is that Trey Lyles slipped up and Williams never got in touch with him.
Sacramento beat Boston 31-25 in the frame, but in the final 2:05 the Celtics doubled the Kings 8-4 and helped them lead 92-79 into the fourth quarter.
Celtics run away with the win
Boston didn’t slow down in the fourth quarter, scoring 34 points to the home side’s 18.
After leading all scorers by ten points in the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s win over the Warriors, Payton Pritchard did it again on Friday. This time he registered nine points and went 3/3 from beyond the arc.
Pritchard also dished out four assists, which were the most in the final frame. He finished the game with Marcus Smart and Donte DiVincenzo on eight assists.
The Guardian’s sophomore production helped Boston’s bench surpass Sacramento’s 45-15. Daniel Theis scored 11 points and Grant Williams and Derrick White scored seven points. It was also great to see White, who fought from distance and went 0/5 on threes against Golden State, knocked down his last of the night to not do the same again on Friday.
After the game, Ime Udoka said his message to White was to “take the open ones and without hesitation… We all really encouraged him. We know what he adds to the team… When the shots aren’t coming, he can affect the game in so many other ways.”
Referring to what pleased Udoka about that win, he said, “Great energy from the start…Generally (the) offense (was) crisp…good concentration regardless of who they were playing against and that’s what.” we have to do.”
Tatum said of the win: “We’ve come a long way since the start of the season… Tonight could have been one of those moments where we gave up the lead. It shows the growth of our team.”
He also spoke about Udoka, saying, “He did a great job. Just think of (a) head coach freshman year in Boston, with the expectations and rocky start we had, (the) noise from outside … We always felt like we were just the right thing to do around these Corner and we all believed that and he did a great job of making sure we were on the same page.
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The Celtics end their trip on the West Coast in Denver against Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets Sunday night. Tip off is at 8:00 ET. Inside The Celtics will contain content related to the game before, during and after the game. And follow @BobbyKrivitsky on Twitter for updates and analysis from pregame to post.
Further reading
What stood out in the Celtics’ win over Warriors: Boston’s defense chokes Golden State
[Photos and Videos] Celtics lift Kevin Garnett’s #5 to the Rafters
Profile on Celtics’ latest signing Nik Stauskas
Profile of the Celtics’ newest signing, Matt Ryan
The trials, tribulations and growth of Ime Udoka in his first year as Celtics head coach
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