Jaylen Brown, among other Celtics, has had to make some sacrifices this season. Surrounded by more talent, his scoring has taken a dip in an effort to help the team take the next step. He’s raised his play in other ways, with better playmaking and defense.

But Sunday night was a reminder that despite what the numbers say, Brown is still a premier scorer in the NBA.

With Jayson Tatum out of the lineup, Brown took the rare lead for the Celtics, and he hit a significant career milestone. Brown scored 26 points in three quarters and surpassed 10,000 career points as the Celtics handled the rebuilding Blazers with a 124-107 victory at TD Garden.

Kristaps Porzingis scored 12 points with 10 rebounds and five blocks and Payton Pritchard added 20 points and eight assists off the bench in the Celtics’ fifth consecutive victory. Like in Friday’s narrow win over the Kings, Joe Mazzulla opted to leave a unit of reserves to finish off this win, but unlike two nights prior – when the Celtics blew a 19-point lead and escaped on Xavier Tillman’s game-winning bucket with seven seconds left – the C’s had no problem taking care of business over the 21-win Blazers.

The Celtics led by just four late in the third quarter and by single digits early in the final period before they ran away with a 31-point fourth behind a strong finish from Pritchard and his cast of reserves of Tillman, Oshae Brissett, Sam Hauser and Svi Mykhailiuk. The Blazers, who hung around most of the night with the help of a 53-40 rebounding edge and 21 second-chance points, never threatened. They couldn’t keep up with the Celtics despite another strong effort from old friend Dalano Banton, who finished with 28 points and nine assists and continues to flourish in Portland after being traded at the deadline from Boston.

The Celtics surrendered 16 offensive rebounds in the first half that resulted in 14 second-chance points for the Blazers as DeAndre Ayton and Jabari Walker punished them on the glass. But the C’s still maintained a seven-point halftime advantage behind 15 points from Brown.

Brown, who entered the night needing 17 points to hit his milestone, reached the 10,000 mark on a left-handed layup inside the first minute of the second half. A few minutes later, the Celtics recognized him on the video board and he received a standing ovation from the TD Garden crowd. He became the 15th player in Celtics history to reach that mark. Tatum also hit the milestone earlier this season.

Brown added nine more points to his tally in the third quarter as the Celtics pushed their lead to as large as 13. But the young Blazers – led by rookie Scoot Henderson, Walker and Banton – didn’t quit. Walker cut the Celtics’ lead to four with 1:57 left in the fourth before Hauser responded with a triple. Brown’s 3-pointer moments later gave the C’s an eight-point lead before the reserves finished it off.