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 "Whenever you get a chance to run up and down and move the ball like
we did tonight, it's fun," guard Avery Bradley said after his 25
points helped the Celtics to a season-high points total in a 128-119
win over the Kings. "And not only that, we were making shots. When
everybody's making shots, everybody's happy."
The Kings, who may be on the brink of getting coach George Karl
fired, came into Super Bowl Sunday having allowed 116.7 points per
game in losing six of their previous seven. The Celtics blew that
apart in winning their seventh straight home game and their fourth
straight and ninth in their last 10 overall.
"You know one thing, our offense has been pretty good the last 10
games," said Boston coach Brad Stevens. "I don't think we're 128
points good but I think we're probably due for games like that. And
you're going to have games where you're - like the other night (in
Cleveland) where you're struggling to get a hundred and you're
struggling to find the basket."
The win moved the Celtics at least nine games over .500 (31-22) for
the first time since they ended the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season
at 39-27.
The Celtics started with a 46-point first quarter, the most by an
NBA team in a first quarter this season. It was the Celtics' first
46-point quarter since 1996 and their first 46-point first quarter
since 1982. They had 74 points in the first half, the first time
they'd done that since 2009.
Boston threatened to blow a 21-point third-quarter lead, the Kings
(21-30) getting as close as five with 1:40 remaining. But guard
Isaiah Thomas, taken by the Kings as the 60th and final pick of the
2011 draft before he left for Phoenix as a free agent, scored nine
points and dished out his ninth assist of the game in the final 1:50
to ensure the win.
"It was huge," said Stevens.
Boston had 34 assists on 51 baskets, went 13-for-24 from 3-point
range and survived despite a season-high 24 turnovers.
Thomas finished with 22 points and four rebounds on his 27th
birthday. Bradley, whose last-second 3-pointer defeated the
Cavaliers in Cleveland on Friday night, again played well, forward
Jared Sullinger matched his season high with 21 and center Tyler
Zeller came off the bench and posted a season-high 17 points, seven
rebounds and two blocked shots for the Celtics (31-22).
Big man DeMarcus Cousins, the man in the middle of all the first
Karl rumors, scored 16 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter and
had seven rebounds and six assists. He is averaging 31 points per
game in the last 18 games.
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"We're in a losing mode," said Karl, whose team has lost three
straight, the last two by the same defenseless score. "We're losing
games, but our basketball has not been bad basketball. It's been not
good enough to win basketball, which happens in the NBA every night.
Just because you lose doesn't mean you don't play good basketball."
Guard Rajon Rondo, the former Celtic making his second return trip
to Boston, had 14 points, five assists and six steals, while guards
Marco Belinelli and Darren Collison both had 16 points and rookie
center Willie Cauley-Stein 15 in the loss.
Asked after the game about Thomas, Rondo said, "Obviously, he's the
guy. He's the All-Star of the team. They have a lot of glue guys
that make the guy go, but the plays he's able to make out there
especially at his height (5 foot 9), it's hard. He's been
unstoppable this year."
Rondo received an ovation during the introductions but then heard
boos when he had the ball. "It's always great to play here," he
said.
NOTES: Sacramento coach George Karl, whose job apparently continues
to hang by a thread, said: "I don't have any control over what other
people are thinking or saying. That's their storm. My preference
would be it wouldn't be there. But there's always energy today. Then
once something gets out, it magnifies and grows and becomes a storm.
That's not my storm. My storm is the Boston Celtics." He added, "I
don't think I'm in limbo." ... As part of Black History Month, both
teams wore No. 11 Cooper T-shirts in honor of Chuck Cooper, the
first African-American ever drafted by the NBA - by the Celtics in
1950. ... The Celtics will try to beat the snow out to Milwaukee for
Tuesday night's game and then host their former coach, Doc Rivers,
and his Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday, while the Kings are at
Cleveland on Monday night.
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