The Boston Celtics ended their six-game road trip on a high Tuesday night in Sacramento.
After a brutal loss to the Utah Jazz on Sunday, the C’s bounced back with an impressive performance against the Kings. They jumped out to a 19-point lead with a 40-point third quarter and this time they didn’t look back as they pulled off a 132-109 win.
All five Celtics starters scored in double figures. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown led with 36 and 27 points. Derrick White added 20 points and 10 assists for his eighth career double-double.
De’Aaron Fox led the Kings by 18 points. Domontas Sabonis had a triple-double with 16 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists.
The Celtics end their road trip 4-2 and return home for a showdown with the Indiana Pacers on Friday night. First, here are three quick takeaways from Celtics-Kings.
Takes care of the basketball
Crunchy ball movement and avoiding turnovers were key to the Celtics’ victory Tuesday night.
Boston had 32 assists on his 49 field goals and turned over the ball just five times — just twice in the first three quarters. The Kings, on the other hand, had 14 turnovers, nine of which came from Celtics steals. The C’s finished 21 points behind Sacramento’s turnover.
This is the start of an encouraging trend. They started Tuesday with 12.2 turnovers per game since the All-Star break, but they had just six in Sunday’s loss to Utah and again excelled in that category in Sacramento. If the Celtics can continue to take care of basketball, it will help them finish the final nine games of the regular season strong and gain some much-needed momentum going into the playoffs.
Celtic’s big man Robert Williams had been sidelined since March 3 with a hamstring injury and his absence was striking. Boston went 4-5 in that span and a bad rebound was a big reason for that.
He returned to court on Tuesday night and his impact was felt immediately. Williams was brought back into action off the bench after just 21 minutes, but he was active with six points, seven boards (two offensively) and one block during that time.
It wasn’t a perfect night for Time Lord as he committed five personal fouls. Still, it’s clear that if Williams is in the mix, this is a different Celtics team. It’s no coincidence that their best game of the month came on the night of his return.
Jayson Tatum collapses
Jayson Tatum wasn’t at his best during the road trip, but he ended it with a brilliant performance in Sacramento. The four-time All-Star quickly asserted his dominance against the Kings’ lackluster 15-point defense in the first quarter (8-13 FG).
Tatum kept his foot on the gas for the last three frames and was particularly deadly from the arc. Although he couldn’t quite get back on track from 3-point range (2-on-7), he hit 12 of his 18 2s and came to the line for 11 free throw attempts. That’s another area he’s looking to improve, having missed five of his shots from the charity strip, but it’s encouraging that he’s staying in attacking mode and forcing his way to the basket.
At 36 points, Tatum ties the great Larry Bird for most 30-point games in a single season in franchise history (39). Bird accomplished the feat during the 1987-88 campaign.