Jaylen Brown dominates as NBA champions Boston Celtics snap skid with rout of Indiana Pacers

BOSTON – Jaylen Brown delivered a “big-time” 44-point gem, as the National Basketball Association (NBA) champions Boston Celtics snapped a two-game losing streak with a 142-105 home blowout of the Indiana Pacers on Dec 27.

He set the tone with 15 points in the first quarter, when the Celtics outscored the Pacers 39-22 to take control.

Brown finished with six of the Celtics’ 23 three-pointers and also came up with four steals, posting his highest scoring output since the 50 in a win over Orlando in January 2022.

“He was big-time,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said of Brown, who energised the TD Garden crowd with an array of thunderous dunks. “He has the ability to impact a team and an arena with his energy and his physicality.

“When he gets into a certain zone he just gets locked in, and you kind of saw that on both ends of the floor.”

Jayson Tatum scored 22 points and pulled down 13 rebounds. Payton Pritchard added 18 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists off the bench for the Celtics, who shrugged off the absence of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday to post their biggest points total of the season.

The lopsided win over the team they vanquished in last season’s Eastern Conference Finals saw the Celtics (23-8) avoid their first three-game skid of the season.

“I wasn’t concerned at all (about the losing streak),” said Brown. “I think that was just the grind of the season.

“We can’t expect everything to just go perfect, and I think the adversity is for us to see what we are made of. It’s an opportunity to get better, so I was never really concerned in those moments.

“Obviously I respond, my favourite thing to do is to respond (to setbacks).”

Tyrese Haliburton scored 19 points and Bennedict Mathurin had 18 for the Pacers (15-17), who were without the injured Obi Toppin and Andrew Nembhard.

Elsewhere, Donovan Mitchell scored 33 points, Jarrett Allen had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets 149-135.

Evan Mobley scored 26 points, Darius Garland contributed 25 points, Caris LeVert had 13 off the bench and Dean Wade returned from missing one game with 11 points for the league-leading Cleveland, who set a season best for points in their sixth straight win.

Nuggets star Nikola Jokic notched his NBA-best 12th triple-double with 27 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists.

“That was an impressive shooting performance (from the team),” said Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson, whose side (27-4) lead the Celtics in the Eastern Conference.

“Offensive execution was good, but defence was a little concerning. We’re not going to shoot like this all the time, so to give up 135 we have just got to tighten up our defence.”

The New York Knicks, third in the East on 21-10, pushed their winning streak to six games with a convincing 108-85 victory over the fourth-placed Magic (19-14) in Orlando.

Jalen Brunson scored 26 points and handed out nine assists and Josh Hart added 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Knicks, who made just four of their 15 three-point attempts but converted 24 of their 34 free-throw attempts.

The Magic, with top contributors Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Moritz Wagner on the injured list, were led by 27 points from Jalen Suggs.

It came down to the wire in Houston, where Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards drilled a step-back three-pointer with 23.2 seconds remaining to lift the Timberwolves to a 113-112 victory over the Rockets.

Fred VanVleet had a chance to win it for Houston (21-10), who are third in the West behind the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Memphis Grizzlies, but missed a three-pointer with 1.8 seconds left.

Julius Randle scored 27 points and Edwards finished with 24 for the Timberwolves, who had trailed by 16 points, 106-90, with 4min 57sec left to play.

Alperen Sengun led the Rockets with 38 points and 12 rebounds. Amen Thompson added 20 points as all five Houston starters scored in double figures only to come up short at the end. AFP, REUTERS