The Boston Celtics become the first team to hit 30 wins this season with victory over the New Orleans Pelicans

CNN
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The Boston Celtics became the first NBA team this season to reach 30 wins after beating the New Orleans Pelicans 125-114 at TD Garden in Boston on Wednesday night, well behind the team’s star Jayson Tatum’s 72 combined points. and Jaylen Brown. .

Brown scored 41 points and a season-high 12 rebounds, while Tatum had 31 points and 10 rebounds as the Celtics won their fourth straight game.

Brown specifically attacked the Pelicans from the mid-range, crediting the addition of extra muscle during the offseason to allow him to handle contact with bigger opponents, as he makes a concerted effort not to settle of in-depth attempts.

“I think I can get to the rim at a good rate this year,” Brown told reporters afterward, according to the Celtics website. “I really want to continue like this.

“I don’t want to let the defense off the hook, but I feel good with a lot of shots I took on three. Some of them broke down, some of them didn’t. But I still think I’m going to be looking to get to the basket a lot more, for sure, just for the rest of the year.

Celtics forward Al Horford reiterated that point: “When (Brown) drives, I feel like people feel it.

“When he hits you while he’s driving, it’s real. So it’s good to see him playing at this level and deciding that he’s going to attack the paint.

It was Brown’s sixth career 40-point game, moving him past Sam Jones and Isaiah Thomas for the sixth-most points in Celtics history.

Along with Tatum, the two wingers have become the driving force behind Boston’s recent success.

The team reached the NBA Finals last season, ultimately losing to the Golden State Warriors, and is once again one of the best in the league this year.

By both scoring at least 30 points and 10 rebounds in the same game, Brown and Tatum became the first Celtics players to reach that stat line since Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker in 2001.

Drafted one year after the other — Brown was drafted with the No. 3 pick in the 2016 draft and Tatum was selected with the No. 3 pick in 2017 — they developed an understanding together about dissecting defenses.

“They continue to grow before our eyes,” Horford said of the star duo after the victory. “They feed off each other, and that’s what really drives our team.”