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Postgame wrap: Celtics 140, Pelicans 105

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BOSTON – Beyond Jaxson and Jackson, not much went right for New Orleans on Saturday.

In the second game of a back-to-back – a contest the Pelicans played more short-handed than perhaps any all season – Boston ran away from its guests, building a 30-point lead in the third quarter. The Celtics scored more points than any Pelicans opponent this season.

Pelicans rookie center Jaxson Hayes filled in for the injured Derrick Favors at starting center and turned in a good performance, featuring a career-high 20 points. Off the bench, second-year guard Frank Jackson was red-hot from three-point range in the first half, keeping New Orleans somewhat competitive prior to intermission. Beyond those two, it was mostly a rough evening for the Pelicans, who not only missed Favors, but did not have starters Jrue Holiday (elbow) and JJ Redick (hamstring), the club’s second- and third-leading scorers, respectively, due to injury. 

IT WAS OVER WHEN…

Boston made a barrage of shots to build a 101-71 lead with roughly four minutes remaining in the third quarter. The Celtics were up “only” 72-57 at halftime, but went on a 29-14 run to double the lead. Celtics wing Jayson Tatum was a big part of the burst, draining deep shots all over TD Garden and making six of his first seven three-point tries. Tatum went for a career-best 41 points.

PELICANS PLAYER OF THE GAME

Hayes played well all week, the best of his rookie NBA season, so let’s go with Jackson, who broke out Saturday with one of the best perimeter shooting nights of his young career. The Duke product topped New Orleans in scoring for the first time in 2019-20, recording 22 points and going 4/10 from three-point range. He was 9/18 from the field.

BY THE NUMBERS

14/29: Boston three-point shooting. Four Celtics made multiple treys.

14/45: New Orleans three-point shooting, which means the same number of makes as Boston, but in 16 more attempts.

41, 31, 42: Boston point tallies in the first, second and third quarters, building a 114-82 lead.

#SATURDAYSCORER

For all 14 Saturday games throughout New Orleans’ regular season, we’ll be selecting a Pelicans player we think will most exceed his season scoring average for that day’s game. Daniel Sallerson picked Nickeil Alexander-Walker, while Jim Eichenhofer took Jaxson Hayes. In a fan poll among four other candidates, Lonzo Ball was chosen. The ninth Saturday contest was won by Eichenhofer based on Hayes’ career-high scoring night, making the season standings: Jim 4, Daniel 3, Fans 2. Sallerson and Eichenhofer could not repeat a player among any of the first seven Saturday games, which is also the case for Saturday games 8-14.

Recent winners:

Nov. 23 at Utah, Daniel – Jrue Holiday (Jim: Frank Jackson; Fans: JJ Redick)

Dec. 7 at Dallas, Jim – Jaxson Hayes (Daniel: Lonzo Ball; Fans: Brandon Ingram)

Dec. 28 vs. Indiana, Fans – Lonzo Ball (Daniel: E’Twaun Moore; Jim: Derrick Favors)

Jan. 4 at Sacramento, Jim – Lonzo Ball (Daniel: E’Twaun Moore; Fans: Brandon Ingram)

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