The Boston Celtics, who are now atop the NBA, defeated the Brooklyn Nets 136-86 on Wednesday night, led by Payton Pritchard, who scored 28 points. This makes them only the third team in league history to win multiple games by 50 points this season.
It was also Joe Mazzulla’s 100th victory as head coach.
The Celtics defeated the Nets on back-to-back nights. Jayson Tatum scored 20 points, 9 assists, and 7 rebounds, while Derrick White finished with 27 points. It was the last game before the All-Star break for both teams.
“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 stated. “So winning is just as dangerous as losing if you don’t handle it the right way.”
Boston has an NBA-best 43-12 record going into the half. In Mazzulla’s first season as coach, the Celtics finished 57-25.
“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 commented on achieving 100 victories. “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.”
On November 1, the Spurs fell short of the Indiana Pacers by 51 points. Only Boston, the Sacramento Kings of 1992–1993, and the Milwaukee Bucks of 1978–1979 were teams that had multiple victories in a season decided by 50 points or more.
In the team’s history, it was the fifth 50-point victory.
Mazzulla doesn’t always receive recognition, according to Kristaps Porzingis, maybe because this is only his second season as a coach. But he believes he ought to.
He’s a really underappreciated coach. and distinct. Porzingis remarked, “I think people really don’t see who he is and how he coaches.” “He deserves a lot of credit.”
Third quarter saw it rise to 46 points.
The whole last session was spent by Boston’s starters sitting.
Cam Johnson, who had been out for four games due to a strained adductor muscle, was the second player the Nets saw return from injury on this particular night. He came off the bench, entering for the first time late in the first quarter. Four points on one of five shots were his final total for the eighteen minutes he played.
The Boston team shot over 64% in the first quarter and made 22 of 44 3-pointers for the game, so Johnson’s presence wasn’t nearly enough to slow them down.
Coach of the Nets Jacque Vaughn said, “It’s a great reminder…that we have work to do,” “We have to be OK doing the work. But I do believe this team can do the work. So use this as a reminder that we got our tails kicked tonight and that after the break it won’t be any easier. But we have to up for the challenge.”
With a 68-32 lead at the half, Boston led the NBA for the first time since January 13, 2010, when it led the New Jersey Nets by 36 points. Brooklyn’s first-half total of 34 points on Wednesday was a season low.
