MIAMI (AFP) — Jaylen Brown top-scored with 31 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the defending National Basketball Association (NBA) champion Boston Celtics struggled to a 108-96 win at Washington in the NBA Cup on Friday.
The Celtics moved to 13-8 on the season but still have some work to do in the NBA Cup, where they are in second place at 2-1 in Eastern Conference Group C behind the Atlanta Hawks.
After their celebratory trip to the White House on Thursday, the Celtics trailed by two at half-time, having been 11 points behind at one stage, and it wasn’t until late in the fourth quarter that they were able to pull away from the Wizards.
Brown delivered down the stretch, his superb turnaround jumper giving Boston a 99-92 lead and ending Washington’s resistance.
It was far from a vintage Celtics performance though.
Jayson Tatum, who scored 16 points, was 0-for-10 from three-point range and Boston shot 42.4 percent from the floor and 23.9 percent from three-point range, equaling their lowest scoring output of the season.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla picked up a technical foul in the second half for remonstrating with the referee but said his emotions had an impact on the game.
“It changed the energy in the arena. Did you feel that? It wasn’t really about energizing the guys, it was more about manipulating the environment. It was just what the environment needed at the time,” Mazzulla said.