Celtics and Kings had an appointment at TD Garden tonight for a duel that promised sparks between the two best attacks in the League. In a long undecided match, it is finally Boston which suffocates its adversary and consolidates its throne at the top of the NBA even more. (122-104)
For the stats of this match, just click on the magic link.
When people see the score of this match in the early morning, many will think that the game was one-sided. 122-104, it doesn’t really leave room for suspense or emotional lift. We say to ourselves, good Boston hit Sacramento without stressing, what a great deal. However, this meeting was more than disputed and the Kings have long played the perfect role of the scarecrow who came to play a nasty trick on his host. Despite a well cracked start, Mike Brown’s players knew not to panic. Little by little, thanks to a solid defense and a good division of the ball in attack, the violets had gained ground and even taken the lead! Jaylen Brown weighed down by faults, Boston might only rely on Jayson Tatum, once more very good (30 points, 10/17 shooting) but who might hardly do everything alone. And then there is this passage at the end of the third quarter which will change everything. Joe Mazzulla tries an improbable five with Pritchard-Brogdon-Hauser-Tatum-Kornet and it… works like thunder. The Celtics find all their going and put a bad air conditioning in Sacramento. 16-0 to end the quarter, and even 39-6 if we push to twelve minutes ! Violent !
With Jaylen Brown back in business at the start of money time, things are not looking up for Sacramento. Boston’s new run, the Kings can’t find any solutions and this match, which looked like a thriller on the way back from the locker room, ends in a… blowout. Huge late game for the Celtics, who were able to limit Sacramento’s offense at 104 points, simply its lowest total of the season! De’Aaron Fox’s buddies will have finally hit a wall, a green wall. They will also have contributed to strengthening it by adding a few bricks at long distance (9/36!). Given the scenario of the match, we were still entitled to think that there was a nice shot to get. But no, the last NBA finalist enforced the hierarchy and inflicted a second defeat in a row on Sacramento, which concluded its road trip with a bitter taste in the mouth (1 victory in 3 games). The reception of the Suns on Monday will be a new test to see what wood these Kings are made of.
Heckled for more than half the game, Boston finished strong to calm a Sacramento team that had shown good things before cracking. The fortress of TD Garden is still hard to take.
