Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum led a 51-point second quarter as the Boston Celtics stretched their winning streak to six games by beating the visiting Los Angeles Clippers 126-94 Monday.
Brown scored 13 points and Tatum added 12 as Boston tied an NBA record by connecting on 12 3-pointers in the second quarter. The Celtics made 22 of 51 3-point attempts in the game (43.1 percent).
Kristaps Porzingis made his season debut for the Celtics, who own the NBA’s longest winning streak. Porzingis missed Boston’s first 17 games while recovering from offseason foot surgery.
Porzingis made 6 of 12 field goal attempts and scored 16 points in 23 minutes. He also had six rebounds and two blocked shots.
Tatum led the Celtics with 20 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Payton Pritchard came off the bench to add 20 points, 18 of which came on 3-pointers.
It was the second stop on a four-game road trip for the Clippers, who allowed an opponent to score more than 100 points for the first time in their last five games.
Ivica Zubac had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Clippers. Zubac made 11 of his 14 field goal attempts.
Los Angeles received 19 points from James Harden and 11 from Derrick Jones Jr. Terance Mann and Jordan Miller each scored 10 off the bench.
The loss ended the Clippers’ five-game winning streak.
Derrick White (19), Brown (17) and Neemias Queta (12) also scored in double figures for Boston. Queta matched Tatum with a team-high nine rebounds.
The Celtics led 27-20 after one quarter and 78-49 at halftime. Boston made 16 of its 34 3-point attempts in the first half (47.1 percent).
Los Angeles sliced its deficit to 19 points by starting the third quarter on a 10-0 run, but the Celtics had a 99-78 advantage heading into the final 12 minutes.
Boston played without Luke Kornet (hamstring) and 38-year-old Al Horford (second night of back-to-back games).
–Field Level Media
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