The Celtics were coming off of a tough loss at the hands to the Atlanta Hawks and needed a bounce back. They found it on Friday night, with a wire to wire 112-93 win over the Kings. It was Payton Pritchard’s night as he scored 29 points while dishing out 8 assists.
Jaylen Brown missed Friday night’s game with left hamstring tightness and a right knee contusion. The Celtics started Baylor Scheierman in Brown’s place with Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Sam Hauser and Neemias Queta in the starting unit. The Kings were without Domantas Sabonis, Keegan Murray and Russell Westbrook. They started Dennis Schroder, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Precious Achiuwa and Maxime Raynaud.
The Celtics got off to a quick 9-1 start, making their first 4 shots, as the Kings called a timeout not even 2 minutes into the game.
The first quarter featured a lot of Payton Pritchard stuffing the stat sheet during the Celtics first 10 field goals, scoring or assisting on 7 of them.
Payton Pritchard has scored or assisted on 7 of the Celtics’ first 10 makes
— Justin Turpin (@JustinmTurpin) January 31, 2026
The Celtics led 40-25 after the first quarter. Payton Pritchard led the team with 11 points and 5 assists; Boston shot 17/24 in the quarter, 70.8%, and had 12 assists.
Fouls are what kept the Kings within striking distance, 11 of their first 28 points came at the foul line. Fouls have been an issue for the Celtics this season and it was an issue early in the game.
The Celtics turned up their pressure as the 2nd quarter went on, Pritchard hit a deep three and Baylor Scheierman had a transition layup, putting the Celtics up 21 points.
Boston finished the half on a 25-6 run to lead 72-46 at halftime. It was the Payton Pritchard Show in the first half, he scored 22 points along with 8 assists, going 9/11 from the floor and 4/5 from three point range.
so… the Celtics are shooting well pic.twitter.com/RSNaHn5Sjn
— John Karalis 🇬🇷 (@John_Karalis) January 31, 2026
At the midway point of the third quarter, the Celtics led by 28 points, 80-52. Baylor Scheierman was having a great game after a really solid performance in Wednesday’s game against the Hawks. He finished the game with 16 points.
Indeed, Kings took zero shots at the rim with Queta on the floor in the first half https://t.co/ICmSxP4qcP
— Nate Duncan (@NateDuncanNBA) January 31, 2026
Can we talk about the leap that Neemias Queta has taken this season? He might just be the Celtics center of the future and at this point last season, I was not a very big fan of his. His rim protection and overall defensive leap has been significant and so has his screening. We are seeing him be much quicker at getting out of screens and committing less illegal ones. He is the third or fourth most important player on the team and it has been very fun to watch.
The Kings could use a player like him…
ESPN Sources: After signing JaVale McGee to a free agent deal, the Sacramento Kings are waiving centers Nerlens Noel and Neemias Queta to give them a chance to play elsewhere. Both signed partially guaranteed one-year deals with Kings this summer.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 12, 2023
Maxime Raynaud hit a buzzer beater at the end of the third quarter to cut the Celtics lead to 89-66. Payton Pritchard led the team with 26 points while Neemias Queta had 10 points and 15 rebounds against his former team.
We had Chris Boucher minutes in the last 3 minutes of the game in the first time we have seen him play since November 23rd. He was rusty, airmailing his first three point attempt but he hit a buzzer beater at the end to get on the board.
The fourth quarter happened, the Celtics kept the lead at around 20 points the whole time. The Kings never made a real push.
The Celtics shot 45% from the field and 38% from three while the Kings shot 37% from the field and 32% from three. Boston’s next game is Sunday at home against the Bucks at 3:30 EST for the NBA Pioneer Classic.
