Boston Stifles Minnesota Comeback, Celtics Win 107-105 vs T-Wolves

After a quick stop in Washington to meet the president and beat the Wizards, the Celtics returned home to battle Minnesota Timberwolves. The two games Boston played against Minnesota last year were overtime thrillers with tons of memorable moments, including a Jayson Tatum masterclass where he dropped 45 points in arguably the best game of the regular season.

Going into this game, the Timberwolves are a different team this time. Replacing Karl-Anthony Towns with Julius Randle has had mixed results to start the season, but with Anthony Edwards playing some of the best basketball of his career, Minnesota still looks like a legitimate title contender. The Timberwolves were without veteran guard Mike Conley for this game, and for the Celtics, Luke Kornet was ruled out with a hamstring injury.

Jaylen Brown started the game blazing hot as he scored the first 15 points in the first 5 minutes for the Celtics on 5 straight threes from beyond the arc. The building was buzzing, but the rest of the Celtics were unable to get anything going while the Timberwolves stayed in the game.

Outside of Brown’s offensive explosion, the Celtics started out cold, missing every shot in the first quarter until Jrue Holiday hit a free throw at the 2:50 mark. Xavier Tillman received early first quarter minutes over Neemias Queta and Jayson Tatum didn’t play the entire first quarter for just the second time all season.

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The Timberwolves were able to attack the Celtics in the paint, but Payton Pritchard kept Boston in the game with 5 points coming off the bench. Minnesota led the Celtics 27-24 after the opening quarter as both teams appeared to be locked in a defensive battle.

The Celtics offense woke up to begin the second quarter, putting together a 9-0 run with Rudy Gobert on the bench for Minnesota. Julius Randle kept the Timberwolves in the game with 7 straight points. He was a matchup nightmare with Tillman and Tatum as the only bigs on the floor.

Gobert was a threat on the boards with 12 rebounds in the first half alone, but the Celtics defense was able to stop the Timberwolves at the rim on second-chance opportunities. Al Horford back-to-back threes in transition, Derrick White three with a Minnesota foul under the basket, two Tatum free throws and two Brown free throws gave the Celtics their biggest lead of the half at 12 points.

The Celtics defense got sloppy toward the end of the half as the Timberwolves went on a 9-0 run to cut Boston’s lead to 55-52 at halftime. Jaylen Brown (17 points) and Jayson Tatum (13 points) combined for 30 of the Celtics’ 55 points in the first half. Julius Randle led Minnesota with 14 points after two quarters and Anthony Edwards had a somewhat quiet first half with 12 points. Boston’s 12 threes carried out their offense as the Celtics scored only 8 points in the paint after 2 quarters.

Both teams got off to slow starts to begin the third quarter, but a Jayson Tatum three at the 9:50 mark started a 14-0 run for Boston that included Jaylen Brown’s 6th three pointer of the game. Minnesota called a timeout, but it didn’t help as Boston continued to pour it on, extending their lead to 15 and another Timberwolves timeout.

Derrick White started his own block fest out of the timeout when he sent back a Nickeil Alexander-Walker three and denied an Anthony Edwards layup attempt. Minnesota wouldn’t go away as Anthony Edwards began to make his presence known with back-to-back threes as part of an 8-0 run, but Boston was able to counter with a Holiday layup over Naz Reid and a Payton Pritchard and-1 over Rob Dillingham.

The Celtics’ biggest lead of the quarter was 19, but Boston missed 7 straight from beyond the arc and Minnesota cut the deficit to 11, making it 84-73 after three quarters.

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Rob Dillingham became the Timberwolves’ main catalyst on offense to begin the fourth quarter, scoring 8 points in the quarter as Minnesota attempted a comeback. Brown and White were able to maintain the Celtics’ double-digit lead until Donte DiVincenzo hit a three with 6:57 left to cut the lead to 7.

Anthony Edwards made it a 4 point game with a three, but the Celtics were able to dominate the paint as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown picked off Alexander-Walker to extend the lead. After White and Edwards traded threes, Jaden McDaniels soared over everyone to make it a two-point game with 2 minutes remaining, erasing the Celtics’ 19-point lead.

With a chance to give Minnesota the lead, Anthony Edwards missed a three. Jayson Tatum got the rebound and threw it in front of the pack to Derrick White. White found Holiday, who found Jaylen Brown streaking down the lane for a pull up three to make it a 5-point Celtics lead with 1:15 left.

Julius Randle went 1-2 from the free throw line out of the Timberwolves timeout and a missed Horford three led to another Randle layup, 2 point game. Jaylen Brown picked it up for Boston but couldn’t find anything. He dribbled out the clock and heaved a 31-footer that just missed as DiVincenzo grabbed the rebound and Minnesota called a timeout with 7.1 seconds left.

Randle inbounds to Edwards, he drives, kicks it to McDaniels in the corner, who passes it to Naz Reid at the top of the three-point line, he shoots, and it clinks out of the rim, the Celtics survive Minnesota’s comeback attempt.

The Jays led the way for Boston in this one, combining for 55 points including some big shots down the stretch. Brown finished with 29 points on 10-18 shooting from the field and 7-10 from three, while Jayson Tatum finished with 26 points and 8 rebounds. Despite the loss, Anthony Edwards finished with a stat line of 28 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists as he nearly led the Timberwolves to a victory.

Celtic’s next game is tomorrow, Monday, November 25 at 7:30 p.m., against the Los Angeles Clippers as part of a home back to back.