The Celtics’ stars shined on Tuesday night in TD Garden, as Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum combined for 77 points in a 126-102 win over the Houston Rockets.
Boston entered the game as a heavy favorite, but the young Rockets duo of Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr. kept Houston within striking distance for much of the game. A buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Green closed the third quarter to cut the Rockets’ deficit to nine, but the Celtics opened the final period on a 9-3 run and went on to win the quarter 34-21.
The Celtics were without interim head coach Joe Mazzulla on the sideline for Tuesday’s game, with assistant Damon Stoudamire taking over Mazzulla’s duties. The team announced that Mazzulla was unable to coach due to eye irritation.
Jaylen Brown finished with a season-high 39 points, and he’s now scored at least 29 points in each of the Celtics’ last three games – all wins.
Here’s what fans and analysts were saying about Tuesday’s win:
This Jaylen Brown mid-air adjustment for the jam 💪
He's got 15 PTS as the Celtics lead in Q1.
📲 https://t.co/1pomQZMAZK pic.twitter.com/DRpGLttARd
— NBA (@NBA) December 28, 2022
5 players are averaging 25/5 on 2+ 3P per game this season.
The Celtics have 2 of them. pic.twitter.com/DHdDSqfrol
— StatMuse (@statmuse) December 28, 2022
JAYSON TATUM OH MY pic.twitter.com/FFTt1crn0A
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 28, 2022
The Jays vs. the Rockets 🚀
Jayson Tatum
▫️38 Points
▫️8 Rebounds
▫️4 Assists
▫️1 Steal
▫️1 BlockJaylen Brown
▫️39 Points
▫️3 Steals
▫️2 Assists
▫️14-26 FG
▫️CELTICS WIN! (25-10) ☘️There they go being the best Duo in the NBA again 🤷♂️☘️ pic.twitter.com/4iKoZVxMMn
— 𝙍𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙮 ☘️ (@CelticsRiley) December 28, 2022
Rob almost knocked Tatum out 😂 pic.twitter.com/oI87ygCfnL
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) December 28, 2022
Jaylen Brown finishes with 39 pts. Jayson Tatum with 38. Damon Stoudamire checked them out with 2:40 left in the game.
Had each of them scored one more basket, they would've become the first Celtics teammates in history to each score 40+ points in the same regular-season game. pic.twitter.com/0Sd7AT4F0b
— Marc D'Amico (@Marc_DAmico) December 28, 2022
Jaylen Brown just became the 5th player in Celtics history to make 800 career 3-pointers.
1. Paul Pierce – 1,823 3PM
2. Antoine Walker – 937 3PM
3. Jayson Tatum – 931 3PM
4. Marcus Smart – 850 3PM
5. Jaylen Brown – 800 3PM— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) December 28, 2022
24th time in franchise history the Celtics have made 20 3's in a game.
The first was just over four years ago. pic.twitter.com/HTK9Z1JGPH
— Sean Grande (@SeanGrandePBP) December 28, 2022
Re-upping this from Sunday; if the Celtics can win the homestand’s final two games (Houston tonight, LA Clippers Thursday), they’ll win an NBA-best 60 in the calendar year 2022.
It would be just the 3rd time since 1987 they’ve done that.
(They needed 87 games to win 62 in 2017) pic.twitter.com/ULONvfv5Qa
— Sean Grande (@SeanGrandePBP) December 27, 2022
