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In a late-night battle in Sacramento, the Celtics entered Golden1 Center with a five-game win streak on Monday night, which they extended to six thanks to a 113-95 win.
Boston (53-19) was led in scoring by Jayson Tatum with 25 points (8/15 FG, 8 assists, 7 rebounds) while the Kings (35-36) got 20 points from DeMar DeRozan (9/24 FG).
The matchup saw the return of Jaylen Brown into the lineup, who missed four of the past five games with a knee impingement. It meant the first time since Feb. 23 that the starting five of Brown, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis were together.
The Celtics entered the game without Sam Hauser (low back stiffness), Al Horford (left big toe sprain) and Xavier Tillman (left knee joint sprain) while the Kings were without Devin Carter (illness), Malik Monk (illness) and Doug McDermott (right elbow).
It was a sluggish start out of the gate for the Celtics, who trailed 19-11 entering the first media break at 6:55. Keegan Murray and Domantas Sabonis lifted the Kings early, with Murray connecting on two threes out of the gate and Sabonis scoring six points in the opening quarter.
The Celtics recovered thanks to an active quarter closeout from Tatum, who was involved in the final 16 points scored. Tatum scored nine of those points, including a runner from beyond the arc, while assisting on the other seven, the last of which came on a kickout pass to Payton Pritchard for a buzzer-beating triple that gave the Celtics a 30-29 lead entering the second quarter.
With Tatum off the floor to start the second quarter, the lead changed hands six times in the first six minutes, while White and Porzingis both picked up three fouls to send them to the bench. Behind a lineup of Tatum, Holiday, Pritchard, Baylor Scheierman and Luke Kornet, the Celtics won the final six minutes 14-11 to take a 56-51 lead into halftime.
Tatum led that lineup with two more 3-pointers to add to his team-high 17 first half points, but arguably the biggest highlight of the quarter came from Scheierman, who jumped a pass for a steal and served up a behind-the-back dime to Pritchard for an easy layup.
The Celtics opened the third quarter shooting 1/7 — the lone make being White’s first points of the night on a 3-pointer — but Boston eventually combined stops with makes and pushed the lead to 10 after a Brown mid-range jumper and a quick Tatum layup with eight minutes to go.
Boston and Sacramento traded 3-pointers soon after, with Brown, White and Tatum all connecting from deep, though Tatum’s second 3-point bucket of the quarter ended in a worrisome sequence as he fell down in pain after a Sabonis closeout interfered with his landing space and resulted in a Flagrant foul. Tatum stayed in the game to shoot his free throws, hitting one of two before heading to the locker room.
Maintaining possession after the foul, Porzingis got in on the perimeter action with his own 3-point make, giving Boston seven points in a 19-second sequence. Boston kept control of the lead despite Tatum’s absence, holding an 88-78 advantage going into the fourth quarter.
The Celtics fired on all cylinders to open the fourth, starting with a Scheierman three and a White layup off the glass for a 93-79 lead.
After the Kings got it back down to 10, Scheierman’s hustle on the glass kept a Celtics possession alive that ended with him wide open in the corner to hit his third 3-pointer of the game. A quick sequence then saw Pritchard bury his fifth 3-pointer while Kornet scored on a basket interference for a 105-87 lead with 6:13 left to play.
A 12-0 Celtics run then pushed the lead to 22, and Joe Mazzulla sent in the rest of the Stay Ready group with 1:12 to play.
Next up for the Celtics is a nationally-televised matchup at PHX Arena to take on the Suns on Wednesday, March 26 at 10 p.m.
