The Celtics knew they were going to need some scoring reinforcements on Wednesday night against an uptempo Kings squad with Jayson Tatum and Al Horford sidelined. Boston’s roster responded by achieving a feat that hadn’t been done in over 25 years by a Celtics squad.
The Celtics put together their most efficient scoring performance of the year in the 144-119 blowout win over the Kings. Most of their damage came via a balanced scoring attack as five separate players finished with 20 or more points in the win. Derrick White and Jaylen Brown led the way with 28 points each. Kristaps Porzingis chipped in with 24 points in his return to the floor while Jrue Holiday added a season-high 21 points. Payton Pritchard also posted 20 points off the bench, providing the team with tremendous balance.
According to Celtics numbers guru Dick Lipe, it was the first time that Boston had five players score 20 or more points in a game since 1987. Larry Bird, Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish achieved the feat that night in a win over the Nets. Wednesday’s win over the Kings marked just the fifth time that had occurred in franchise history.
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“I think we know what this road trip means to us,” Jrue Holiday said of the dominant outing. “Last game we felt like we should have won. This game was a good opportunity to bounce back. But we’ve got a lot of players who are really, really good and step up in that way. But I think for a team that runs a lot like Sacramento, we also know that in transition we can get out on them, too. So I think a couple times we got some transition points just taking it out and pushing it because they didn’t get back on defense. So, kind of playing at their pace, but at the same time being able to control it.”
Porzingis hinted that the team tried to take some more ownership individually with Tatum sidelined, which led to the balanced scoring performance.
“I think it’s just a bit more attention on everybody else,” Porzingis added of Tatum’s absence. “He’s the focal point whenever he’s playing every night. Tonight’s a bit more on – you have to take that responsibility a little bit. I think we did a good job with that. We shared the ball well and we had five guys that scored over 20, and pretty much everybody that stepped in gave good minutes. Svi, Oshae, those guys were great in the minutes that they had. I thought it was a great team victory.”
The Celtics will look to build upon that offensive momentum starting again on Saturday afternoon when they take on the Clippers at Crypto.com Arena.
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