BOSTON — The Boston Celtics snapped a two-game losing streak Friday night when they defeated the Indiana Pacers at home 142-105 behind Jaylen Brown’s 44-point performance, a season-high.

Brown hit six three-pointers, but even more impressive, he got four steals that turned into points, even a windmill dunk to hype the Garden. The C’s were hitting on all cylinders out the gate with a 18-4 run in the first quarter. The C’s took a commanding lead early and worked on keeping it.

Kristaps Porzingis was ruled out with an ankle injury suffered on Christmas Day against the Sixers. Al Horford stepped in as the big man and put up 13 points and five rebounds. Jayson Tatum also played big on the boards with 13 rebounds to go with 22 points for the C’s.

Payton Pritchard got it going and dropped 18 points and had 10 assists to complete the double-double. Pritchard has struggled the past two games in the scoring department, but found his groove on Friday.

For the Pacers, Tyrese Haliburton led Indiana in scoring with 19 points, but the C’s played good defense on the perimeter. The C’s also were able to control T.J. McConnell, who typically provides the spark off the bench and causes issues, he only finished with eight points.

Murmurs put to rest?

The Celtics now jump to 23-8 and still sit at the second seed, four games behind the Cavaliers. The Pacers fall to a 15-17 record and are eight in the conference. Though the Celtics may have suffered back-to-back losses before Friday, they showed against Indiana that they’re still the same team that can score points in bunches. I still don’t believe there’s a team in the east that can beat the Celtics four out of seven games. Porzingis not playing and Pritchard finally finding his rhythm should be a positive sign for Celtics fans.