MEXICO CITY (AFP) - The Boston Celtics humbled the Sacramento Kings 114-97 on Thursday as the NBA held a regular-season game in Mexico City for the second year in a row.

Four Celtics players finished with at least 20 points each, with point guard Isaiah Thomas scoring 21 and dishing out nine assists in front of a crowd of 18,860 at the Mexico City Arena.

Kings guard and former Celtic Rajon Rondo had a rough reunion with his ex-team-mates, getting ejected midway through the third quarter after a second technical foul for arguing with the referee.

Sacramento's star forward DeMarcus Cousin was held to 16 points, well below his 28.2 season average.

The Celtics improved to 11-8 and sit in second place in the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division while the Kings fell to 7-13 and lie in fourth place in the Western Conference's Pacific Division.

The game was part of the NBA's drive to expand its international presence as part of its NBA Global Games series.

London will host the Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors on Jan 14.

The league has now staged three regular season games - in 1997, 2014 and 2015 - and 19 pre-season match-ups in Mexico, the most total games outside of the United States and Canada.