Jaylen Brown scored 32 points and Jayson Tatum added 27 as the Boston Celtics remained unbeaten at home, defeating Houston 145-113 on Saturday in former Celtics coach Ime Udoka’s return to Boston.
The Celtics improved to an NBA-best 30-9 overall and 19-0 at home, the league’s only undefeated club at home stretching its team-record home win streak to start a season.
Brown, who scored 21 points in the third quarter when the Celtics pulled away to stay, hit 11-of-15 shots from the floor, 4-of-6 from 3-point range, and added six rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocked shots.
“Being aggressive. A lot of times defense gets you going,” Brown said of his third-period success. “I get it on the run and when we play like that in transition we’re tough to beat.”
Udoka guided the Celtics to the 2022 NBA Finals, where they lost to Golden State, but he was suspended just before the start of the 2022-23 season training camp over an improper relationship with a team staffer.
Udoka ultimately was dropped and replaced by former assistant Joe Mazzulla on a permanent basis last February.
“I’m glad to see Ime back coaching on the sidelines,” Brown said. “I’m glad to see a lot of the staff we spent time with over there in Houston. I wish those guys the best of luck.”
Asked how he reflected on his departure, Udoka said, “Job not finished. The relationships you build and the people you impact, so that would be the biggest thing.
When it came to his regrets, Udoka was equally matter-of-fact.
“The biggest thing I’d say overall is letting some people down, for sure,” Udoka said. “But we’ve talked it out and I’ve seen a lot of these people throughout the summer and talk regularly and so we move past it.”
Mazzulla played down the impact of Udoka’s return with the Rockets, who hired him as head coach last April.
“The fact Ime is back is great,” he said. “But I don’t think that really has anything to do with winning or losing.”
Both were important to the Celtics after being thumped 135-102 at Milwaukee on Thursday.
“Last game we didn’t feel like we were at our best,” Brown said. “We wanted to come out and make sure we stayed undefeated on the home court.”
Tatum went 9-of-17, 4-of-7 from beyond the arc, with eight rebounds and five assists for Boston, which also got 19 points from reserve Payton Pritchard.
Reserve Cam Whitmore led Houston with 22 points while Turkish center added 19 for the Rockets, who fell to 19-19.
In Atlanta, the Washington Wizards snapped a six-game losing streak and improved to 7-31 with a 127-99 victory over the Hawks. Kyle Kuzma led the Wizards with 29 points while Jordan Poole added 20.
The Los Angeles Lakers (19-20) were set to play later at Utah (20-20) without LeBron James.
The 39-year-old superstar missed his fourth game of the season with a left ankle injury. He suffered the setback in a loss Thursday to Phoenix.
