The Boston Celtics beat the Brooklyn Nets 136–86 on Wednesday night, with Payton Pritchard scoring 28 points. It was Joe Mazzulla’s 100th win as head coach.

Derrick White scored 27 points in the end. The Celtics beat the Nets for the fourth time this season and the second time in a row. Jayson Tatum scored 20 points, had nine assists, and grabbed seven rebounds. It was both teams’ last game before the All-Star break.
Boston comes into it with the best record in the NBA at 43-12. Last season was Mazzulla’s first year as coach, and the Celtics went 57-25. Wednesday was the team’s fifth 50-point win. 
The Nets have lost five of their last six games and Trendon Watford scored 15 points for them. In the fourth quarter, they were behind by as many as 56 points.

The Celtics played without Al Horford (sprained big toe) and All-Star Jaylen Brown (bruised right shoulder). 
But they were in charge the whole game. They quickly took a 10-point lead and then built it up to 37 points in the second quarter. In the third, it got to 46 points. The players for Boston sat out the whole last period.

The Nets did get a player back from illness for the second night in a row. This time it was Cam Johnson, who came back after missing four games with a strained adductor muscle. He first played when he came off the bench near the end of the first quarter. He played for 18 minutes and scored 4 points on 1 of 5 shots. 
Boston hit more than 64% in the first quarter and made 22 of 44 3-pointers for the game, so Johnson’s presence wasn’t nearly enough to slow them down.

At halfway, Boston had the biggest lead it had had since January 13, 2010, when it had a 36-point lead over the New Jersey Nets. Brooklyn scored 34 points in the first half on Wednesday, which was the fewest points they’ve scored all season.