First-half domination sparked a blowout win on Friday night at TD Garden. The Boston Celtics’ offense was rolling early and often against a depleted (and seemingly defeated) Sacramento Kings team.
Both teams were missing stars. Jaylen Brown was sidelined for Boston. Domantas Sabonis, Russell Westbrook, and Keegan Murray were out for the Kings. But only one side powered through.
So, how did the Celtics pick up the victory? And what, if anything, caused a bump along the way?
1. The Payton Pritchard-Neemias Queta connection
The first play of the game was a lob to Neemias Queta. Derrick White threw it.
After that, five of the Celtics’ next six buckets came as a direct result of the Payton Pritchard-Queta pick-and-roll. It was absolutely dominant, and the Kings had no answer at the beginning of the game.
“Just constant coverage recognition,” Joe Mazzulla said of their chemistry. “The right screen, the right type of roll, the right pass, the right pace that you play. Both guys take a ton of pride in their reads and their ability to make two-on-ones for themselves and for others.”
Queta’s screens gave Pritchard a ton of room to work with, and he’s elite at finding space to work within the pockets of a defense. And that’s something Queta has improved at, too.
“I feel like he’s just getting better at finding little pockets,” Pritchard said of Queta. “Windows, we call it. Especially if I’m able to- I like to play out of the 10-foot range a lot, and that allows me to sometimes draw two.
“And for him, it’s finding little windows for the lob or even little dump-offs so he can go up. So, we still got to get better and better at it, but like we’ve taken a lot of big steps, and it allows us to get easy buckets.”
With Brown sidelined, Pritchard took the reins of the offense. But Queta was right there to help steer the ship.
“There are ups and downs for sure,” Queta said of his pick-and-roll relationship with Pritchard. “For a little bit, we feel like we can get everything we want in the pick-and-roll, but sometimes teams figure us out. I think we can also get better at it with time. We’re just figuring out how to get better for each other.
“And like I said, Payton is a great handler in the pick-and-roll, and my job is to make his life easier. To make his reads cleaner. So, the more I can make his job easier by making the decisions be so much clearer by the way I set the screens or get behind the defense, that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Obviously, the pick-and-roll with Queta was the springboard with which Pritchard got off the ground, but once he got rolling, there was no stopping him.
There’s a reason he’s one of the most effective isolation scorers in the NBA.
His night was highlighted by an insane step-back three over Zach LaVine, but it didn’t matter what type of look he was seeking out: He found it.
3. Baylor Scheierman is the real deal
The stats are one thing. Baylor Scheierman, who started this game in place of Brown, finished with 16 points, five rebounds, one assist, and one steal on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor and4-of-7 shooting from deep.
But he also guarded LaVine. Mazzulla put him on LaVine to start the night.
He was a full-on two-way player for the entire game, and it didn’t cost him any of his offensive swagger. Scheierman was nailing his catch-and-shoot threes and making plays off the dribbles at an extremely high level.
And don’t worry, he still talked trash to the opposing team’s bench when he nailed a three in front of them. Scheierman will never back down from that type of situation.
“I mean, I’m a 6-foot-7 white guy with shaggy hair and tattoos, so they like to attack me when I’m out there, and I’ll give it right back to them,” he said with a smile.
So, does it feel better to hit a three in front of the other team’s bench?
4. Why did the Celtics’ offense slump in the second half?
Boston won this game convincingly. Nobody’s going to walk away upset about the way things panned out. But that’s not how Mazzulla views basketball.
He always finds 10-15 possessions that Boston can improve on. On Friday, they slumped in the second half. A 72-point first half (65.1% FG, 47.8% 3PT) was followed by a 40-point second half (28% FG, 28% 3PT).
The reason (or at least part of it)? A shift from the Kings.
“Well, they adjusted. They went double big and switched a lot more,” Mazzulla said. “And so, they were playing a completely different defense in the second half than they were in the first. So, we have to be quick to recognize that, and quick to be able to execute.
“And so, I thought we just weren’t as quick in that as the adjustment was made, and that’s just kind of where we have to grow as a team is in the game when teams [adjust], and I thought that was smrat by them. When teams are in those situations, we have to be able to see it quickly and adjust and then execute.”
5. A perfect decision by Derrick White
In a game that saw Brown sidelined, White could have pushed. He could have tried to force the issue. But he didn’t.
From the start of the game, it was evident that Pritchard was on fire. He was reading the game beautifully and leading the Celtics’ offense. So, White to a back seat.
He took the fewest shots of anyone in the starting lineup and was tied for the eighth-most on the team.
Yet he still had nine assists. He still had a steal and two blocks. And he didn’t turn the ball over a single time.
White may be slumping, but he knows how to win basketball games. That’s why he’ll always be on the floor.
6. Chris Boucher vs. Russell Westbrook
Chris Boucher got minutes for the first time since November 23. He got 3:31 at the tail end of Friday night’s game, and in that time, he got up three shots.
One of them, however, came as time expired. He took (and made) a three with the shot clock off, even though the Celtics were up by 16 points. Boucher’s triple gave Boston a 19-point victory.
Russell Westbrook yelled at Boucher after the shot. His Kings teammates held him back as he walked across the court toward the Celtics big man.
“They were just upset [at him] for shooting the last shot,” Pritchard said post-game.
However, Boucher walked over to Westbrook, explained something (with Pritchard as a peacekeeper), and the Kings guard patted him on the back. It seemed as though they made up.
Funny interaction at the end of Celtics-Kings.
Chris Boucher wanted a bucket in his first game since 11/23. Made one at the buzzer to cap a blowout win and Russell Westbrook didn’t like it… at first.
Chris explained the situation, Russ understood and embraced him. All good! pic.twitter.com/B9LyWvMqxA
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) January 31, 2026
What was the incident all about? What did Boucher say to Westbrook that calmed him down?
There’s obviously no way to know for sure, but he probably explained his current predicament: He hasn’t played in months, the trade deadline is coming up, and he wanted to show that he can still hoop.
