Jaylen Brown goes up for a shot against Cleveland’s Jarrett Allen during the Celtics’ 141-103 win Sunday night in Boston. Michael Dwyer/Associated Press

BOSTON — Jaylen Brown scored 20 of his 33 points in the third quarter and the Boston Celtics snapped their three-game losing streak Sunday night by cruising to a 141-103 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Kemba Walker added 21 points, Carsen Edwards had 18, Daniel Theis scored 17 and Marcus Smart had 12 for Boston, which posted a season high in points in a half, taking a 73-51 edge into intermission.

Brown played just 19 minutes.

“We needed a win,” Brown said. “We lost three in a row. Being back on our floor, we wanted to make sure we came out with great intensity and we did.”

Collin Sexton led Cleveland with 13 points, far below his team-leading average of 26.8 per game, as the Cavaliers’ three-game winning streak ended.

Coming off impressive back-to-back wins over the Brooklyn Nets in which they scored 147 and 125 points, respectively, the Cavaliers were simply never in this one.

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Boston pushed the ball out on the fast break, getting several easy looks that it converted while the Cavaliers missed 10 of their first 13 shots.

“I thought our defensive intensity was good for most of the game and I thought our offense fed off of it,” Boston Coach Brad Stevens said.

Brown made it look easy in his limited playing time. He’s scored 25 or more in four straight games, the longest stretch of his career.

“He’s in a great rhythm scoring,” Stevens said.

Behind Smart’s 10 points and Brown’s nine, the Celtics shot 60% and pulled out to a 38-21 lead after the opening quarter.

The Celtics used a 15-0 spree to pull ahead 96-59 on Walker’s 3-pointer from the left wing that sailed through the net as he was falling to the floor with 6 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter. It came a possession after Brown nailed a 3 from directly in front of Cleveland’s bench. From there, both coaches gave ample playing time to their reserves.

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TIP-INS

Cavaliers: Sexton had scored 20 or more points in 15 straight games. … Andre Drummond had 11 points and five rebounds, his second time this season falling short of a double-double. … Forward Kevin Love missed his 13th straight game because of a strained calf.

Celtics: Rookie guard Payton Pritchard is sidelined because of a Grade 1 right MCL sprain he sustained in Friday night’s game, but the team believes he might be able to return in about two weeks. … With the Celtics scheduled to play again Monday night in Chicago, no one played more than 27 minutes. … Like they did before the previous two games, the players huddled with their arms around each other during the national anthem.

TATUM’S RETURN

Jayson Tatum has been cleared to play Monday against the Bulls. Tatum missed his fifth straight game Sunday because of COVID-19 protocols.


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