SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Terry Rozier had no idea he was so close to claiming the Boston Celtics’ record for 3-pointers when he tossed up a hurried shot beyond the arc with the shot clock winding down in the fourth quarter Sunday.
It hardly mattered on a day Boston moved one step closer to Toronto for the best record in the Eastern Conference with a 104-93 victory against the Sacramento Kings.
“If I knew that I would have shot five more for sure,” Rozier said.
Rozier didn’t take another 3 after that shot bounced off the rim.
He scored a career-high 33 points in his sixth start in place of the injured Kyrie Irving, and Jaylen Brown made consecutive buckets to break open a close game in the fourth quarter.
Rozier shot 12 of 16, including 8 of 12 on 3s in his most impressive game of the season.
Rozier, who was averaging 16.2 points in Irving’s absence, also had five rebounds and three assists.
“A lot of credit goes to my teammates and my coaches because they steadily believe in me every game and make it happen for me,” said Rozier, whose previous career best was 31 points against Atlanta on Feb. 2. “My job is easy. All I have to do is try to make the shot.”
The eight 3s were one shy of the Celtics’ single-game record shared by Isaiah Thomas and Antoine Walker. Three of Rozier’s 3-pointers came in the third quarter as part of an 18-2 run, including a wide-open shot after Rozier did a 360-degree spin to get away from a defender.
“The two 3s Terry made in the corners were ridiculous,” Coach Brad Stevens said. “Those are big-time shots. It sort of helped us separate a little.”
Brown had 19 points after missing two weeks with a concussion. Al Horford scored 14 points, and Jayson Tatum added 12 points and seven rebounds.Boston won in Sacramento for the first time since Feb. 1, 2011.
Boston won for the fourth time in five games. Toronto, which began the day with a 41/2-game lead over the Celtics, lost to the Clippers.
“We got pretty good looks all night,” Stevens said. “Everyone played well but we were really playing with purpose.”
Buddy Hield scored 24 points for Sacramento, and Willie Cauley-Stein and Skal Labissiere had 14 points apiece.
The Kings had won five straight home games against the Celtics and entered the fourth quarter down 80-78 before being held to 13 points in the final period.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.