NEW YORK — — Jayson Tatum had 36 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds, Jaylen Brown added 24 points and 12 rebounds and the Boston Celtics defeated the Brooklyn Nets 139-114 on Wednesday night.

Payton Pritchard had 23 points, eight assists and six rebounds for the Celtics, who quickly and emphatically returned with their highest point total of the season after a surprising 117-116 home loss to Atlanta on Tuesday night.

Boston fell into a 13-point hole in the first quarter of this season before the NBA champions got themselves back into top form and turned the game into a rout with a 74-point second half.

Ziaire Williams scored a season-high 23 points for the Nets.

Takeaways

Celtics: The home loss to an Atlanta team playing without star guard Trae Young was puzzling. But if the Celtics play like they did in the third quarter, when they scored 38 points and were 7 for 11 from behind the arc, nights like that will be rare.

Nets: The Nets should like what they see from Williams, who made his second straight start with Ben Simmons (pale left calf) and Dorian Finney-Smith (sprained left ankle) sidelined. They added the No. 10 pick in the 2021 draft after he spent his first three seasons in Memphis.

Key moment

Derrick White, who scored a season-high in points on Tuesday, was in foul trouble on Wednesday and was scoreless in the first half. He finally got on the board early in the third quarter with a three-pointer, putting the Celtics on a quick 13-2 spurt that pushed a four-point lead to 85-70.

Key stat

The Celtics have won 12 of the last 13 meetings against the Nets and seven straight in Brooklyn, where they haven’t lost since the 2020-21 season.

Next

The Celtics are off until they host Toronto on Saturday night. The Nets will travel across town to visit the Knicks on Friday and Sunday evenings.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba