The scuffling Sacramento Kings (21-30) have struggled to stop anyone on the defensive end as of late, and that trend continued on Sunday afternoon as the Boston Celtics (31-22) eased their way to a 128-119 win at the TD Garden.
Boston, who now possesses sole control of the third seed in the Eastern Conference having notched victories in nine of their last 10 games, was simply relentless on the offensive end throughout the contest, hitting a stellar 56% of their shots from the field while connecting on 54% of their three-point attempts (13-for-24) en route to the victory.
Shooting guard Avery Bradley, fresh off of his buzzer-beating three-pointer which defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night, paved the way with 25 points on 6-of-7 shooting from three-point range, piling up an impressive +16 plus-minus rating.
Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas garnered 22 points, including some crucial buckets down the stretch, to accompany his nine assists, while power forward Jared Sullinger added 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting in addition to six rebounds and three steals in one of his most magnificent outings of the season.
Boston dominated the glass, outrebounding the Kings by a margin of 49-32, and many of these boards came from starting power forward Amir Johnson (nine rebounds) and reserve power forward Tyler Zeller.
Zeller, surging in an increased role off of the bench as of late, snatched seven rebounds to accompany his 17 points. Shooting guard Evan Turner utilized his 6'7" frame to notch four rebounds in addition to his 11 points and nine assists, while point guard Marcus Smart came off of the bench to score eight points, five rebounds, and toss out four assists.
For the Kings, losers of seven of their last eight, the defensive intensity was non-existent as the team failed to hold their opponent below 50% shooting for the second consecutive game.
However, there were a few bright spots for the squad on the offensive side of the ball. All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins led all scorers with 31 points on 11-of-25 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 shooting from deep while tossing out six assists and grabbing seven rebounds.
Point guard Rajon Rondo, returning to the city in which he spent the first eight-plus seasons of his career, wowed his former home crowd with 15 assists in addition to 14 points, while guards Darren Collison and Marco Belinelli garnered 16 point apiece for Sacramento.
Rookie center Willie Cauley-Stein made seven of his nine field goal attempts for 15 points while small forward Omri Casspi added 13 points off of the bench.
The Celtics jumped out to the best start any team in the NBA has had all season, recording 46 points in the first quarter, the most a group has notched in the first 12 minutes to date in the 2015-16 campaign.
Through the first eight minutes of the game, in which they jumped out to a 34-18 lead, Boston was on pace to score a mind-blowing 204 points, hitting seven three-pointers in the first quarter alone, including two from center Kelly Olynyk in the quarter's final minute which provided the team with a 46-37 advantage.
This gap ballooned to 68-51 with three minutes remaining in the first half, as a jumper by Zeller, a step-back three from Bradley, and a bucket by Sullinger highlighted a 7-0 Celtics run as the team stomped into the halftime break leading, 74-58.
A 13-8 surge to begin the second half gave Boston a commanding 87-66 advantage after a Thomas three-pointer with 7:26 remaining, however, the Kings refused to fade into the distance.
A 15-2 run, hallmarked by three-pointers from Cousins and Collison, brought the team to within 89-81 with two minutes left in the quarter, and a jump-shot by center Kosta Koufos with 1:01 remaining sliced the deficit to 91-85.
The Celtics bolstered their lead to 110-97 with 5:45 remaining after a three-pointer by Bradley and an and-one dunk by Turner, however, Sacramento continued to trim the deficit.
After two deep threes by Cousins sandwiched a Rondo jumper, the Kings trailed 117-112 with 1:39 left in the contest.
Despite relinquishing the momentum, Boston did not wilt under pressure, however, as an off-the-dribble three and a driving layup by Thomas provided the squad with an insurmountable 122-112 lead with just over a minute remaining.