SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Jayson Tatum scored 36 points and the Boston Celtics capped off a lengthy road trip with a routing 132-109 win over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.
Boston rebounded after blowing a 19-point lead in Saturday’s loss to Utah by beating one of the best teams in the Western Conference. He finished his tour with a 4-2 record.
Jaylen Brown added 27 points and Derrick White finished with 20 to help the Celtics open a one-game lead over Philadelphia in the Atlantic Division.
Domantas Sabonis finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists for the Kings, who lost consecutive games for the first time since Feb. 3-5. De’Aaron Fox had 18 points.
Sacramento fell 1.5 games behind Memphis for the second seed in the Western Conference. The Kings are trying to clinch their first postseason trip since 2006, the longest playoff drought in NBA history.
Playing their fifth game in seven nights in their fourth time zone, the Kings didn’t put up much of a fight against Boston.
The Celtics shot 53.3% from the field, had only five turnovers and took control of the game after a sizzling run to start the second half.
