BOSTON — Jared Sullinger scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to help the Boston Celtics snap a four-game losing streak with a 106-84 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday afternoon.
Kelly Olynyk added 15 points, Jae Crowder 12 and Marcus Smart 11 for Boston, which never trailed and avoided matching its longest losing streak this season.
Darren Collison and Carl Landry each scored 14 points to lead the Kings, who lost for the ninth time in 11 games.
Sacramento forward DeMarcus Cousins was ejected after collecting his second technical of the game midway into the final quarter. He finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Boston led by 16 after three quarters and pushed it to 92-67 when Olynyk’s 3-pointer capped a 9-0 spurt with just over seven minutes to play.
After the basket, the teams went down the other end of the floor and Cousins, battling for position for a rebound with Smart, grabbed the guard by the arm and flung him to the floor.
Smart got up and yelled at Cousins before the pair were separated. Each was given a technical and Cousins was ejected because it was his second of the game. His other came in the first quarter.
Cousins then headed out the tunnel near the Kings’ bench to a loud chorus of boos.
The Celtics went on an 8-0 run early in the third quarter, turning a 10-point halftime edge to 57-42 on Evan Turner’s fast-break layup. They maintained at least an eight-point lead for the rest of the quarter.
The Kings had closed the gap to 69-61 on Ray McCallum’s free throw before Boston scored the final eight points of the quarter, six coming on consecutive 3-pointers by Olynyk and Smart in the final 38.1 seconds.
Boston led 49-39 at halftime.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Comments are no longer available on this story