Boston improved their perfect NBA home record to 14-0 on Sunday as Jaylen Brown keyed a fourth-quarter surge that saw the Celtics pull away for a 114-97 victory over the Orlando Magic.
Brown scored 17 of his 31 points in the final period to help the Celtics, who led by nine through three quarters, push their lead to as many as 23.
Jayson Tatum scored 23 points, and Kristaps Porzingis added 15 points and 10 rebounds in his return from a one-game absence.
The Celtics withstood a 36-point, 10-rebound performance from Orlando’s Paolo Banchero to beat the Magic for the second time in three days.
Stung by that defeat on Friday, the Magic raced to an early 10-point lead, but the Celtics turned the tide in the second quarter and never trailed after the break.
The Celtics had dropped four straight to the Magic before beating them on Friday in a win Brown called their biggest of the year.
“We can’t skip no steps,” he said Sunday. “Orlando has been one of those teams that has had our number in the last year and a half… We take the right mentality and we come out on top, and I like that.”
Brown, who added five rebounds, six assists, one steal and one block, said his fourth-quarter burst was just a matter of falling into a rhythm.
“I’m a do whatever our team needs kind of guy,” he said. “First quarter, fourth quarter, it don’t matter, I just take advantage of the opportunities I get.”
In other early action, the New Orleans Pelicans drilled a franchise record 22 three-pointers in a dominant 146-110 victory over the Spurs in San Antonio.
CJ McCollum made six of his seven three-point attempts on the way to 29 points. Brandon Ingram was five-of-seven from beyond the arc and scored 26 points for the Pelicans, who threw some cold water on the Spurs’ halftime ceremony honoring Tony Parker’s induction into the Hall of Fame in August.
Rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama scored 17 points and grabbed 13 rebounds under the eye of fellow Frenchman Parker, his childhood idol.
The Spurs, who snapped their 18-game losing streak with a victory over LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday, took a 6-0 lead on Wembanyama’s alley-oop dunk in the opening minutes but had little to celebrate the rest of the way.
After missing their first five shots, the Pelicans found their range. They led by 13 after the first quarter and never looked back.
Zion Williamson finished with 15 points, Jonas Valanciunas added 15 with 15 rebounds and Jose Alvarado added 16 points off the bench for New Orleans.
(© Agence France-Presse)
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