BOSTON – The Sacramento Kings looked like they were primed to end a 10-game TD Garden losing streak on Thursday night.
Winless on the parquet floor since Jan. 19, 2007, the Kings were picking apart the Celtics’ defense and had a 12-point lead late in the third quarter.
But the Celtics, playing their first home game since returning from a 3-1 trip to California, found their legs late in that quarter and were in control in the fourth quarter.
With [...]
BOSTON – The Sacramento Kings looked like they were primed to end a 10-game TD Garden losing streak on Thursday night.
Winless on the parquet floor since Jan. 19, 2007, the Kings were picking apart the Celtics’ defense and had a 12-point lead late in the third quarter.
But the Celtics, playing their first home game since returning from a 3-1 trip to California, found their legs late in that quarter and were in control in the fourth quarter.
With Kyrie Irving putting together a triple-double and Jaylen Brown hitting from long range, the Celtics got past the Kings, 126-120, for their second win over Sacramento in just over a week.
Irving had 30 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds for the second triple-double of his career, the first taking place on Feb. 28, 2014 against the Utah Jazz when he was with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Brown made three 3-pointers late in the third quarter to get the Celtics going and had 22 points on 9 for 16 shooting.
Marcus Morris added 21 points and 13 rebounds while Jayson Tatum (15), Al Horford (12) and Gordon Hayward (10) were also in double figures. Hayward put together a strong finish after struggling in the first two-plus quarters.
The Celtics had a two-point lead going into the last quarter, but Horford opened the advantage with a 3-pointer just 25 seconds in.
The Kings closed to 104-103 with 6:20 remaining, but the Celtics scored nine straight points for a 113-103 advantage.
Irving got the run going, Morris converted a three-point play and Irving followed with two straight baskets.
The Celtics outscored the Kings, 14-2, in the final 2:46 of the third quarter to take a 93-91 lead into the last 12 minutes.
It was a strange third quarter for the Celtics, who opened the second half on a 9-2 run to take their first lead since early in the game at 65-64.
Instead of building on that momentum, however, the Celtics were overwhelmed by the Kings, 16-2, and found themselves trailing, 80-67.
Sacramento hit four 3-pointers in a row, three by Buddy Hield (34 points), in that spree that took place in just over two minutes.
The Celtics were still trailing by 12 after a 3-pointer by Harrison Barnes (20) with 3:46 remaining in the quarter, but they held the Kings to just two Da’Aaron Fox foul shots the rest of the way.
Brown made three straight 3-pointers in a span of 1:20 and Hayward put the Celtics in front with a driving layup at the buzzer, similar to a play he beat the Kings with last week in Sacramento.
The Celtics were behind by as many as 17 points early in the second quarter (44-27) before they started to show some improvement at the defensive end.
A 7-0 run that included a 3-pointer by Morris and inside baskets by Marcus Smart and Brown pulled the Celtics within 44-34, and they went on a 7-2 run later in the quarter to close to 56-51.
Irving and Morris combined for 16 of the Celtics 31 points in the quarter, and they were able to pull within 62-56 at the break despite making just 1 of 12 shots from 3-point range.
The Kings made 70 percent of their first-quarter shots to open a 38-23 lead, missing just six of 20 attempts.
Barnes got the Kings going, scoring seven of his 11 points in the quarter during the opening 2:37, and Hield added 10 points with a pair of 3-pointers.
The Celtics had just six points midway through the first quarter before finally getting something going, but they went 0 for 6 on 3-pointers in the quarter.