LOS ANGELES, United States — Jaylen Brown delivered a 44-point gem as the NBA champion Boston Celtics snapped a two-game losing streak with a 142-105 blowout of the Indiana Pacers on Friday.
Brown set the tone with 15 points in the first quarter, when the Celtics out-scored the Pacers 39-22 to take control.
He finished with six of the Celtics' 23 three-pointers and came up with four steals, posting his highest scoring output since he scored 50 in a win over Orlando in January 2022.
"He was big-time," Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said of Brown, who energized the TD Garden crowd with an array of thunderous dunks. "He has the ability to impact a team and an arena with his energy and his physicality.
"When he gets into a certain zone he just gets locked in, and you kind of saw that on both ends of the floor."
Jayson Tatum scored 22 points and pulled down 13 rebounds and Payton Pritchard added 18 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists off the bench for the Celtics, who shrugged off the absence of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday to post their biggest points total of the season.
Tyrese Haliburton scored 19 points and Bennedict Mathurin scored 18 for the Pacers, who were without injured Obi Toppin and Andrew Nembhard.
The lopsided win over the team they vanquished in last season's Eastern Conference finals saw the Celtics avoid their first three-game skid of the season.
It also kept them in touch with Eastern Conference leaders Cleveland, who improved their league-best record to 27-4 with a 149-135 victory over the Denver Nuggets.
Donovan Mitchell scored 33 points to lead six Cavaliers players in double figures as Cleveland won their sixth straight -- and their 10th in 11 games.
The Cavs drilled 23 three-pointers and led by as many as 21, withstanding a triple-double of 27 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists from Denver's NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic.
Edwards seals T'Wolves win
It came down to the wire in Houston, where Minnesota's Anthony Edwards drilled a step-back three-pointer with 23.2 seconds remaining to lift the Timberwolves to a 113-112 victory over the Rockets.
Fred VanVleet had a chance to win it for Houston, but missed a three-pointer with 1.8 seconds left.
Julius Randle scored 27 points and Edwards finished with 24 for the Timberwolves, who trailed by 16 points, 106-90, with 4:57 left to play.
"Made it happen!" Edwards said. "Got some stops, we made some big shots -- made a big shot at the end right there."
Alperen Sengun led the Rockets with 38 points and 12 rebounds. Amen Thompson added 20 points as all five Houston starters scored in double figures only to come up short at the end.
The New York Knicks pushed their winning streak to six games with a convincing 108-85 victory over the Magic in Orlando.
Jalen Brunson scored 26 points and handed out nine assists and Josh Hart added 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Knicks, who made just four of their 15 three-point attempts but converted 24 of their 34 free-throw attempts.
The Magic, with top contributors Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Moritz Wagner on the injured list, were led by 27 points from Jalen Suggs.
San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama delivered 19 points and seven rebounds as the Spurs heated up in the second half to beat the Nets 96-87 in Brooklyn.
The Spurs connected on just 11 of their 40 shot attempts in the first half and were tied 41-41 at half-time.
They broke it open in the third quarter, connecting on 13 of their 18 shots. Wembanyama made four of his five attempts in the period, including three three-pointers, as the Spurs seized a 74-62 lead going into the fourth quarter.