Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 59 points Friday night, and the Boston Celtics built a 28 point third quarter lead and then held off a rally to defeat the Washington Wizards 116-107 at TD Garden in Boston.
Washington (2-7) only held one lead at 13-11 just over five minutes into the game, but the hosts took the lead back for good on a Brown three-pointer 23 seconds later. Boston led by as many as 10 in the opening quarter, by 21 in the second, and by 19 at halftime. The advantage would grow to 28 when Daniel Theis made the back end of two foul shots about 3:30 into the third. The Wizards cut it to 15 after three, and would get within four with 7:36 to play before the Celtics regained control to pick up their fourth straight win and improve to 7-3.
Tatum had 32 points and added five rebounds, and Brown had 27 along with 13 rebounds and five assists in the win. Tacko Fall got some big minutes in the absence of Tristan Thompson, Robert Williams, and Grant Williams who are in a seven day quarantine. He registered 13 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks in 19 minutes. Payton Pritchard added 11 points and Theis had 10 and six rebounds. Bradley Beal had 41 points in the Washington loss, while Russell Westbrook was held to just 12 on 4-16 shooting. The Celtics host Miami Sunday night at 7 p.m.
