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The Boston Celtics became the first NBA team this season to reach 30 wins after beating the New Orleans Pelicans 125-114 at TD Garden in Boston on Wednesday night, thanks in large part to a combined 72 points. of the team's stars, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. .
Brown scored a season-high 41 points and had 12 rebounds, while Tatum had 31 points and 10 rebounds as the Celtics won their fourth straight game.
Brown specifically attacked the Pelicans from mid-range, crediting the extra muscle added in the offseason for allowing him to handle contact with larger opponents, while making a concerted effort not to settle for attempts from deep.
“I think I can get to the rim at a good pace this year,” Brown told reporters afterward, according to the Celtics website. “I definitely want to continue like this.
“I don't want to let the defense get away with it, but I feel good about a lot of the shots I made from three. Some of them fell, some did not. But I definitely still think I'm going to try to get to the basket a lot more the rest of the year.”
Celtics forward Al Horford reiterated the point: “When (Brown) drives, I feel like people feel it.
“When he hits you while driving, that's real. So it's good to see him play at that level and have the decision to attack the paint.”
It was Brown's sixth 40-point game in his career, passing Sam Jones and Isaiah Thomas for the sixth-most in Celtics history.
Along with Tatum, the two wing players have become the driving force behind Boston's recent success.
The team made the NBA Finals last season, ultimately losing to the Golden State Warriors, and is once again one of the best in the league this year.
By scoring at least 30 points and 10 rebounds in the same game, Brown and Tatum became the first Celtics players to achieve that stat line since Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker in 2001.
Drafted one year after the other (Brown was selected with the No. 3 pick in the 2016 draft and Tatum was selected with the No. 3 pick in 2017), they have come to an agreement together on how to dissect defenses.
“They continue to grow before our eyes,” Horford said of the star duo after the win. “They feed off each other and that's what really drives our team.”
