The Celtics topped the Sacramento Kings 120-106 at the Golden 1 Center on New Year's Day for their second straight win.
Jaylen Brown notched 29 points on 11-of-25 shooting, to go along with 10 rebounds and four assists before the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week fouled out with 2:09 left to play. Derrick White scored 14 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, while handing out seven assists and grabbing five rebounds.
"It's just a fun time of the game, and just wanted to make an impact on it," said White in his postgame comments after also recording three steals.
Payton Pritchard also finished with 16 points, 6 assists, Sam Hauser was 5-of-7 from 3-point range for 15 points and Anfernee Simons chipped in 14 points on 4-of-7 from deep off the bench to help improve the Celtics to 21-12 on the season.
DeMar DeRozan led the Kings -- who are on a three-game skid and fell to 8-26, with 25 points, six assists while Dennis Schröder added 18 points, 7 assists with Keon Ellis also netting 16 points off the bench and Precious Achiuwa had 14 points in the loss at home.
It was a tight back and forth type of game for the Celtics, as they allowed Sacramento to connect on 12-of-26 from behind the arc through three quarters. Still, it was knotted up 88-88 heading into the final frame before Boston went on a 22-12 spurt and limited the Kings to just 18 points on 0-of-10 from 3 for the period.
White hit a go-ahead 3-pointer to put his team up for good with 10:45 remaining and they led by as many as 14. With Boston up 115-104, Brown fouled out -- despite Joe Mazzulla using a coach's challenge to which he lost -- but it didn't matter as the C's held on for the victory.
The Celtics head to Los Angeles to face the Clippers (12-21) Saturday night in the finale of their five-game road-trip. NBA TV will have the tip-off at 10:30 pm ET.
Boston connected on 51% of their shot attempts, including 14-of-41 (41%) from long distance, while the Kings hit 47% from the field and 12-of-36 (33%) on 3-pointers. The Celtics won the rebound battle 40-32 and outscored the home team in the paint 50-40. The C's committed 13 turnover to Sacramento's nine for the game.
Joel Pavón
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