BOSTON — Payton Pritchard scored 28 points as the NBA-leading Boston Celtics defeated the Brooklyn Nets 136-86 on Wednesday night, becoming only the third team in league history to win multiple 50-point games in a season.
The victory also marked Joe Mazzulla’s 100th as head coach.Derrick White scored 27 points, and Jayson Tatum added 20 points, 9 assists, and 7 rebounds for the Celtics, who defeated the Nets on consecutive nights. It was the last game for both teams before the All-Star break.
“You can’t operate by feeling, so regardless if we lost tonight and won five out of six or six out of six, you have a tendency to relax, you have a tendency to put it in cruise control,” Mazzulla said in a statement. “So winning is just as dangerous as losing if you don’t handle it the right way.”
Boston will enter the break with the NBA’s best record, 43-12. Last season, Mazzulla led the Celtics to a 57-25 record.”I told the guys, it’s something to be proud of, something to be grateful for, and it’s just a testament to the people that you have around you,” Mazzulla said as he celebrated his 100th victory.
“In a business where individual success is highly talked about on a nightly basis, the box scores and stuff like that, to have a group of people you can share in your success with is important.” The Celtics defeated the Indiana Pacers by 51 points on November 1. Boston, along with the 1992-93 Sacramento Kings and the 1978-79 Milwaukee Bucks, are the only teams to win multiple games by at least 50 points in a season.
It was the fifth 50-point victory in the team’s history.
Kristaps Porzingis believes Mazzulla is not always given credit, possibly because this is only his second season as a coach. But he believes he should.
“He’s a very underrated coach. And different. “I think people don’t understand who he is and how he coaches,” Porzingis said. “He deserves a lot of credit.”
Porzingis left the game during the first half with a sprained ankle and did not return. However, he stated that he was available in the second half.Trendon Watford scored 15 points for the Nets, who have lost five of their last six. They trailed by up to 56 points in the fourth quarter.
The Celtics were without All-Star Jaylen Brown (bruised right shoulder) and Al Horford (sprained big toe), but they dominated the game throughout, jumping out to a double-digit lead and building a 37-point lead in the second quarter.It increased to 46 points in the third.
Boston’s starters sat out the entire final period.For the second night in a row, the Nets had a player return from injury, this time Cam Johnson, who had been out for four games due to a strained adductor. He came off the bench, making his first appearance late in the first quarter.
He played 18 minutes and scored four points on one-of-five shots.Johnson’s presence was insufficient to slow down a Boston team that shot over 64% in the first quarter and made 22 of 44 3-pointers for the game.
For the second night in a row, the Nets had a player return from injury, this time Cam Johnson, who had been out for four games with a strained adductor. He came off the bench to make his first appearance late in the first quarter. He played 18 minutes and scored four points on one of five attempts.
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