NBA Recaps, March 30: Boston Celtics Make A Statement In 41-Point Win Against Milwaukee Bucks

Two of the top Eastern Conference teams played each other but it wasn’t as close as expected.

Led by the duo of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, the Boston Celtics took a 140-99 victory against the Eastern Conference-leading Milwaukee Bucks. Tatum finished with 40 points while hitting eight 3-pointers. It was the most points he scored since Mar. 5. Brown had 30 points, scoring 20 of them in the first half.

“We responded well from the jump,” Tatum said. “That's all that I wanted and we wanted as a team, regardless of if we won or not, just to respond and play better than we did last game.”

Al Horford scored 14 points and Malcolm Brogdon had 14 off the bench.

OTHERS:

The New Orleans Pelicans took advantage of Nikola Jokic’s absence.

Brandon Ingram recorded his second triple-double to give the New Orleans Pelicans a 107-88 victory against the Denver Nuggets. He had 31 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. CJ McCollum had 23 points and Trey Murphy scored 15 points while Jonas Valanciunas recorded 15 points and 12 rebounds.

“We know that they’re missing a huge component to the team in Jokic but it’s important for us no matter who’s on the floor we execute on both ends of the floor,” Pelicans head coach Willie Green said. “I thought we did that.”

With Jokic sidelined due to a calf injury, Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with 21 points and Bruce Brown led all reserves with 19 points.

Cory Nelson is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He attended Northern Virginia Community College. He can be reached at corymckenzienelson@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter @CKenzyNelson. You can also check out his personal blog HERE.