Celtics’ 10-game win streak snapped by Kings as Marcus Smart misses buzzer-beater

The Boston Celtics got off to another slow start but this time the Sacramento Kings made them pay.

After winning 10 consecutive games, the Boston Celtics have had their winning streak snapped by the Sacramento Kings after falling 99-100 is a game that was closely fought throughout with 24 lead changes.

Unfortunately for the Celtics, All-Star hopeful Jayson Tatum would only tally four points through the first three quarters (he finished with 14) while the Kings — missing point guard De’Aaron Fox — were carried by Kings guard Buddy Hield’s 35 points.

Further, after going down 30-18 by the start of second quarter, Boston faced an uphill battle against Sacramento and continued a troubling trend that should be monitored throughout the season.

For all the improvements to team chemistry and the play of particular players, if the Celtics don’t get off to better starts then their chances of manifesting their full potential takes a substantial hit. A primary catalyst for their first half woes is that their bench unit is one of the least threatening in the league, averaging 27.3 points per game (28th in the NBA, per NBA Advanced Stats). In the first quarter, the second unit is averaging a mediocre 4.6 points per game.

Considering that Sacramento went on a 14-4 run   that extended into the opening minutes of the second quarter with three minutes left in the first quarter, a significant portion of the blame for their underwhelming start can be attributed to the bench unit staying true to form in the first quarter.

Nonetheless, the Kings made it difficult for Boston to score inside while Bogdan Bogdanovic (10 assists) made smart decisions with the ball in his hands, effectively quarterbacking Sacramento’s offense.

For Boston, Kemba Walker and Marcus Smart would both tally nine assists, continuing to be great facilitators, but while Walker went 7-16 from the field in a game that he was efficient in throughout, Smart went 2-16 from the field (and 1-8 from three) and missed the potential game-winner on a shot that rattled around the rim.

There wasn’t much positive to take away from the Celtics’ performance other than Walker was efficient from start to finish and wing Jaylen Brown delivered another strong performance with a team-high 18 points (including 4-7 shooting from three), eight rebounds and two steals.