Marcus Smart lofted up a floater as the clock ticked down, but after a couple bounces, the ball narrowly rimmed out as time expired, and the Celtics lost a thrilling showdown with the Sacramento Kings, 100-99. Six Celtics scored in double figures, led by 18 points from Jaylen Brown and 14 apiece from Kemba Walker and Daniel Theis, but it wasn’t quite enough to overcome a monstrous 35-point performance from Buddy Hield, and the Celtics suffered just their second loss of the young season.
As it tends to be with Sacramento, the tempo of the game was amped-up from the outset.