Brooklyn Nets 96 vs. 139 Boston Celtics summary: stats and highlights | NBA

The Boston Celtics asserted their dominance and flexed their muscles in the Eastern Conference in a blistering win at TD Garden. Jayson Tatum led Boston with 31 points in Wednesday night’s 139-96 win.

It was raining three in Boston

The Celtics became the best team in the league and were looking to start a winning streak after a three-game slump in late January. They faced an injured Nets team with Kevin Durant on the sidelines for the 11th straight game.

Robert Williams III got the first bucket of the game on a base slam, and the Celtics didn’t look back from there. They took a 21-3 lead in the first six minutes of the first quarter, and the Bostonians then hit their first eight 3-pointers of the game. They extended the lead to 30 points in the first quarter while holding the Nets to just 16 points and essentially held that lead until the finish line.

Jayson Tatum started the game with 18 points in the first quarter and went to the half with 23 only because he was on the bench for the majority of the second quarter. He finished the game with 31 points and went through the last 12 minutes.

Kyrie’s bitter return to Boston

Jaylen Brown had 11 points at halftime and ended the night with 26, while the likes of Robert Williams and Derrick White joined in the feast at TD Garden. White had a double double with 14 and 10 rebounds while Williams just missed with 16 points and 9 rebounds.

Even MVP candidate Kyrie Irving couldn’t spare his team the beating in Boston. The former Celtic had 20 points as the Nets shot just 23.1% from downtown and rebounded 57-32.

The Celtics extend their lead over the Milwaukee Bucks to 2.5 games with the win as the conference leaders fell to 5.5 games behind the Celtics without Kevin Durant.