The Boston Celtics are the defending NBA champions, and they’ve started the 2024 season like they’re on a mission to go back-to-back.
They’re 17-4, with their latest win coming over a massive Eastern Conference rival, the Miami Heat. It was a 108-89 blowout win for the Celtics with Jimmy Butler on the bench with knee soreness for the Heat.
The Celtics had an 85-63 lead heading into the fourth quarter, so this one wasn’t ever really close, but Boston has two players in particular to thank for that.
The first was Jaylen Brown, who put up 29 points in 31 minutes to go along with seven rebounds, four assists and a steal. Not to be outdone, fifth-year point guard Payton Pritchard came off the bench to score 25 of Boston’s 36 bench points. He shot 10-of-17 from the field, including 5-of-12 from the three-point line.
Pritchard became the first NBA player this season to score 20 or more bench points in four straight games. He and Brown combined for 54. It looked like this:
