Celtics crush Cavs 141-103 as star wing Jaylen Brown breaks scoring records

The Boston Celtics obliterated the Cleveland Cavaliers 141 – 103 in their Jan. 25th meeting at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse that saw star Celtics forward Jaylen Brown set an NBA record for the fastest player in league history to 33 points, which he secured in just 19 minutes of play.

Brown wasn’t alone with having a good night — something that tends to happen when a team breaks the 140-point mark — with six players hitting a double-digit scoring mark, two of them off the bench. “We needed to win,” said Brown after the game. “We lost three in a row. All good games I thought that we could have definitely won … you wanted to make sure that we came out play with great energy and we did.”

In addition to Brown's 33, Kemba Walker added 21 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals, while reserve guard Carsen Edwards had a season-high 18 points and 5 boards. Center Daniel Theis continued his excellent play of late with 17 points and 6 rebounds, and Marcus Smart chipped in 12 points, 9 assists and 5 steals. Even rookie wing Aaron Nesmith got in on the action, scoring 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc while grabbing 6 boards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsQt_nndCc0

"I thought our defensive intensity was good for most of the game and I thought our offense fed on that, not waiting for it to be the other way around," offered head coach Brad Stevens postgame. Pointing to how not bringing such levels of effort cost them the game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday and Friday of last week, the Celtic coach seemed much happier with what he saw against Cleveland. "I thought we played with the intent of getting stops and letting everything feed off that instead of the other way around," he added. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5w9H5nwukY

The Celtics won't have time to rest on their laurels however, with their next game coming Monday night, a tilt with a competitive Chicago Bulls team. And while word is that star All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum will finally be rejoining the team after an extended absence due to an asymptomatic COVID-19 test return, Stevens also confirmed Walker will sit on the second night of the back-to-back, giving the Celtics one less star to work with. Tipoff for the game against the Bulls is at 9 p.m. eastern time, an hour later than originally scheduled. [jwplayer V83gzKtB-z6KDnl0B] [lawrence-related id=45883,45866,45863,45860] [listicle id=45880]