Final: Celtics 126, Kings 120 -- Kyrie's triple-double keys crucial comeback

Kyrie Irving tallied his first triple-double since 2014, posting 31 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists to help the Celtics fight back from a 17-point deficit in the first half and sweep the season series over the Kings with a 126-120 victory. Jaylen Brown added 22 points off the bench while Marcus Morris chipped in with his first double-double since November, enabling the hosts to bounce back from a miserable defensive showing in parts of the first three quarters and pull out a much-needed victory.

Buddy Hield had a game-high 34 points for the visitors, who had their way on offense for most of the night behind some terrific transition offense and unselfish play. The Celtics landed some counter punches in the third quarter before a game-changing 16-2 run to close out the third frame, giving the hosts the momentum which they rode the rest of the way.

The Celtics have now won four of their last five games overall and remain two games behind the Pacers for the No. 3 seed after the Pacers beat the Thunder on Thursday night.

First Quarter Notes

• Celtics offense very flat to start a lot of long jumpers that aren’t going down. Begin 3/13 FG to dig a nine-point hole


• Morris continues to be in a rut with his shot. Taking offense


• C’s offense heavily reliant on jumpers to start and they continue to not go down. Shooting 30 percent on them since the break


• Kings go big with Bjelica in the starting five and take advantage of cross matches early in transition by scoring on Irving with him


• Barnes also getting some open looks with delayed closeouts from Horford on switches.


• Hield continues to hurt Celtics in transition with 10 points in opening nine minutes. Defense has been there but hasn’t matter.


• 61 percent shooting with 10 assists on 11 field goals for Sac as they open up 14-point lead.

Second Quarter Notes

• Jaylen Brown doing some nice working attacking the basket against the Kings lack of rim protection.


• Tough start to second quarter for Hayward who misses a 3, misses a layup and then isn’t ready for a pass on the break, which results in a turnover.


• Bagley doing some nice work drawing fouls and knocking down corner 3s.


• Hayward gets benched after a couple defensive mistakes


• Lots of minutes for Jaylen Brown who set the tone for offense in the frame by attacking the rim. Tatum, Morris and Irving followed suit in the second quarter to help claw C’s back into the game.


• Irving with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting.


• Field remains a problem (team-high 16 points) for Kings.


• Sacramento shots 57 percent in first half but C’s finally start forcing a few turnovers to slow their offense down in second half of frame.


• Boston goes just 1-of-12 from 3 in the first half.

• Jayson Tatum is expected to be back in the lineup for the Celtics after missing Monday's game with a sore shoulder. It was just the first contest missed all season for Tatum and the third of his career. "Just… it was a lingering pain. It wasn’t feeling back there so they gave me a couple of extra days of rest and some more treatment and we get it back right." Marcus Smart and Daniel Theis are both questionable for the matchup due to illness.


• The vibes from the team's 3-1 road trip remain positive heading back into a three-game homestand despite an ugly loss to the Clippers on Monday. "We've been playing well the last four games and we need to keep that going," Tatum said. "14 games left, try to win them all, one game at a time. We want to go into the playoffs with the best shape and best mindset we can be."


• Thursday night will be a big game when it comes to draft seeding potentially since the Celtics could help ensure Sacramento remains in the draft lottery with a win. The Kings are 4.5 games out of a playoff spot with 15 games left to play. The Celtics are two games behind the No. 3 seed at the moment, a tie between the Pacers and Sixers.


• Key area for Boston on Thursday night? Transition defense. The Kings have the best fast break attack in the game (No. 1 in ppg) while the Celtics have been 29th in fast break defense since the All-Star Break.