BOSTON — Consider the Celtics’ skid snapped.
After losing four of its last seven and two straight for the first time this season, Boston bounced back in emphatic fashion by bulldozing the Indiana Pacers, 142-105, on Friday night at TD Garden.
Jaylen Brown was the tone-setter for Boston, scoring a season-high 44 points on 16-of-24 shooting (6-of-11 shooting from 3-point range) before watching the final eight-plus minutes from the bench. It was the highest scoring output for Brown — the MVP when these teams met in last season’s Eastern Conference finals — since Jan. 2, 2022, when he dropped 50 in a win over Orlando.
Co-star Jayson Tatum finished with 22 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and three steals, and Boston shot better than 40% from 3 as a team (23 for 57) for the second consecutive game.
The 37-point win was the most lopsided of the season for the Celtics, which became the fifth team this season to score 140-plus points while allowing 105 or fewer. They did it without two of their usual starters, as guard Jrue Holiday (shoulder) and center Kristaps Porzingis (ankle) both sat out with injuries.
Indiana, which put up 135 points in an overtime win over Boston in October, also was shorthanded, playing without rotation players Obi Toppin, Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith on the second night of a back-to-back.
The Celtics and Pacers will play a rematch Sunday at TD Garden (6 p.m. tipoff).
Coach Joe Mazzulla switched up his early-game personnel usage, playing Brown for the entire first quarter and Tatum for all but the final 2.7 seconds of it. Typically, one of Boston’s stars goes wire-to-wire in the first while the other subs out halfway through.
This new setup had the desired effect. Brown was superb in the opening frame, racking up 15 points on perfect 6-of-6 shooting. In one sequence, he hit a 3, stole a Tyrese Haliburton pass and sprinted for a fast-break dunk that put the Celtics up 17.
Tatum had three nice finishes at the rim in the first quarter, including an and-1 layup that opened the scoring. He missed his first two 3s, but the Celtics grabbed offensive rebounds and drew fouls on both.
Tatum also played the first two minutes of the second quarter — the only minutes Brown sat during a dominant first half for both him and the Celtics. Brown made his first 10 field goals and scored 23 points before halftime, throwing down multiple ferocious dunks as Indiana struggled to keep pace.
As Brown paced Boston’s offense, Tatum quietly notched a first-half double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. He and Brown also combined for five first-half steals, three of which led to Celtics makes.
Boston took a 67-45 lead into halftime — and would have led by more had Pascal Siakam not drained a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute of the second quarter. The Celtics stretched their lead to 31 in the third, and Boston began emptying its bench before the midway point of the fourth.
Other takeaways from the win, which improved the Celtics’ record to 23-8:
— Sam Hauser made his third start of the season in place of the injured Holiday, who sat out his second straight game with a shoulder impingement.
Injuries also have been an issue for Hauser, who missed two games last week with lower back spasms and admitted Friday morning that he’s struggled to find a consistent rhythm this season. He attempted just one total field goal over the previous two games, and his outside shot looked off against Indiana.
Hauser went 0 for 5 from 3, finished with four points and played the fewest minutes (20) of any Celtics starter. Al Horford started for Porzingis and shot the ball well (3 for 6 from 3) for the second straight game.
— Payton Pritchard fell just short of his first triple-double of the season. The Sixth Man of the Year front-runner tallied 18 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds, including a career-high five offensive boards.
Pritchard also blocked his fourth shot of the season, went 7 for 16 from the floor and made 4 of his 11 3-pointers. That was an improvement over his previous two outings, during which he shot 1 for 13 from 3 and totaled 11 points.
— Jordan Walsh saw his most prominent minutes in weeks when he checked in for the final 4:14 of the first quarter. The second-year pro also got an extended run in the second half and made the most of his limited opportunities.
Walsh knocked down both of his 3-pointers (just his fourth and fifth of the season), grabbed two offensive rebounds, blocked a shot and went 3 for 4 from the foul line in his 21 minutes.
Neemias Queta and Jaden Springer also made first-half cameos, with Springer playing one defensive possession at the end of the first quarter.
— The Celtics have not lost three consecutive regular-season games since March 2023.
