BSJ Game Report: Celtics 144, Kings 119: Brown, White, Porzingis, lead dominant bounceback win

Everything you need to know about the Celtics win over the Sacramento Kings, with BSJ insight and analysis

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics answered a 23-11 Kings run with a 13-0 run to avoid an early blowout and engage in a 3-point shootout (19 combined) in the first. Sacramento took a three point lead into the second, but Boston’s defense frustrated the Kings while the offense kept pouring in the points. That carried on in a big way in the third, which Boston won 39-24 thanks in large part to Kristaps Porzings’ play on both ends, and into the fourth as Boston never looked back.

Box Score

HEADLINES 

- Great bounceback: Without Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, and Luke Kornet, the Celtics overcame a very hot start by the Kings, stayed the course, and kept on marching, which is impressive on the back-to-back. 

- Law of averages: The Celtics couldn't hit anything against Golden State and they couldn't miss against Sacramento. They shot 52.4% from 3 the night after a sub-30% game. 

- Balance: Five players (Porzingis, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Payton Pritchard) all hit for at least 20. Every one of them had a stretch where they carried the offense. 

- Third quarter turnaround? Road third quarters have been an issue, but I wondered after the homestand if Boston’s good home third quarters can carry over. Maybe that's the case, because for the second straight game, Boston’s had come out of halftime playing great basketball. Obviously they let up a little at the end against the Warriors, but they didn’t against Sacramento. They won the third by 15. 

TURNING POINT

Let’s go back to the first quarter, when Porzingis blocked De’Aaron Fox. It was already 23-11, Fox had just stolen the ball (again … it was his third in the first 6:38) and was on his way to a layup. It was --this-- close to being 25-11 and starting to get out of control. Instead, the ball went the other way, Brown got a transition dunk, and Boston went on a 13-0 run to take the lead. 

The Celtics pulled away for real at the beginning of the third quarter, a frame that belonged to Porzingis to start (14 points) and Brown to finish (15 points).  

THINGS I LIKED

- Sticking with it: The Celtics have been starting slow in a few games recently, but they haven't once let it bug them. I have to admit, I thought the first few minutes were going SO poorly that I might have to write about Boston’s first wire-to-wire stinker of the season. Instead, they pulled through in a big way.

- Great response: They were all down after the loss to Golden State, and they again had a built in excuse when Tatum and Horford sat out. This team has still only lost consecutive games once this season. 

- Derrick White: “He’s an All-Star,” Joe Mazzulla said after the game. Hard to argue after his best two-game scoring stretch in the league. He had 28 points on 10-13 shooting, 6-9 from 3. He also dished out seven assists. He owned the first quarter with 16 of Boston’s 38 points. 

Protecting the ball (eventually): The Celtics had six first quarter turnovers, which happened to fuel most of what the Kings were doing early on. They had one turnover in each of the remaining quarters to finish with nine overall. That was incredibly important to limit a team that loves to run.

- Jaylen Brown catching bodies: He’s on an absolute tear. He’s putting up poster-worthy stuff … or at least he would be if posters were still a thing. 

JAYLEN BROWN JUST CAUGHT A BODY 🤯🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/9B2WFdiMwR

— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) December 21, 2023

Just another wonderful game from Brown, this time carrying a big load with Tatum being out. 

"He's been playing great basketball," Mazzulla said. "I think we've taken a turn offensively as a team in the last seven to eight games with our offensive execution and purpose. ... I think Jaylen has kind of spearheaded that."

- Jrue Holiday: 21 points and 10 assists, and two more steals plus a block on the defensive end. He had a big second quarter with eight points and four assists.

- Kristaps Porzingis: Six blocked shots, three in the third quarter when Boston separated themselves. Obviously his offense is great, but when he defends like this, you can forget beating the Celtics. 

"KP's ability to protect the paint allows our guys to have the freedom to chase over, to go under to fight through on dribble handoffs and get through screens," Mazzulla said. "And so it's just that's the thing that we've talked to our guys about is the connectivity. KP can't do that if we don't have the proper ball pressure if we don't have the proper physicality on screens, and our guys have the freedom to mix it up and do what they do because of his rim protection."

- Payton Pritchard: Maybe Scal is onto something when he says Pritchard is a different player out west. He hit some big 3-pointers in this game. 

- Sam Hauser: The shot started to fall again for him, which was important after that stinker versus Golden State. 

- Fastbreak points: Boston won that 30-6, which is wild because they only forced seven turnovers. That was just running off misses. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

I’m not going to nitpick tonight. This was a fun game that saw Boston withstand an early run and end up going up by 30. 

HIGHLIGHTS

TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Joe Mazzulla will frame this game: Mike Brown called all of his timeouts and none of them did anything to stop Boston. The next time you wonder why Mazzulla didn’t call a timeout to stop a run, think about this game where Brown called all of his and got nothing out of it. Boston never relented, and the Kings never put together any kind of meaningful run out of any of them. 

Add to that a lot of Boston points off Kings misses at the rim where they fell or begged for a call, and Mazzulla will point to this game as proof of concept for how he coaches. 

- These guys are alright: I get why people were all worked up about the loss to Golden State, and I’m not trying to gatekeep your fan experience, but I just wanted to take this moment to remind you the Celtics are doing alright. 

You can react however you want. That's the beauty of sports. I’m here, partially, to just provide some perspective. The Celtics are a good team that had some tough stretches Tuesday night and a legendary player beat them with a legendary performance. They bounced back against a quality opponent, without some important players, and put up a dominant overall game on a back-to-back. 

Great win here. Great bounceback. 

Next up: Boston gets a couple of days off before a 3:30 p.m. game (12:30 local time) against the LA Clippers