Boston stifle 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 came back home to face off against the 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 around. Replacing Karl-Anthony Towns with Julius Randle has yielded mixed results to start the season but with Anthony Edwards playing some of the best basketball of his career, Minnesota still looks to be a legitimate title contender. The Timberwolves were without veteran guard Mike Conley for this matchup and for the Celtics, Luke Kornet was ruled out with a hamstring injury.

Jaylen Brown started the game scorching 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 weren’t able 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 got free throws 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 only the second time all season.

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 looked locked in for a defensive battle.

The Celtics offense woke up to begin the second quarter, rallying off 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 being the only bigs on the floor.

Gobert was a menace on the boards with 12 rebounds in the first half alone but the Celtics defense was able to stymy the Timberwolves at the rim on second chance opportunities. Al Horford back to back threes in transition, Derrick White three with a Minnesota foul underneath 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 towards the end of the half as the Timberwolves ended on a 9-0 run and cut Boston’s lead to 55-52 going into the break. Jaylen Brown (17 points) and Jayson Tatum (13 points) combined for 30 of the Celtics 55 points in the first half points. 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 their offense as the Celtics only scored 8 points in the paint after 2 quarters.

Both teams started out slow 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 and increase their lead to 15 and another Timberwolves timeout.

Derrick White started his own block party out of the timeout as he sent back a Nickeil Alexander-Walker three and denied an Anthony Edwards layup attempt. Minnesota would not go away as Anthony Edwards started to make his presence known with back to back threes as a 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 the three quarters.

Photo by Brian Fluharty/Getty Images

Rob Dillingham became the Timberwolves main catalyst of 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 to go 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 on Alexander-Walker to extend the lead. After White and Edwards traded threes, Jaden McDaniels rose above everyone to make it a two point game with 2 minutes to go, 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 ahead of the pack to Derrick White. White found Holiday who found Jaylen Brown streaking down the court for a pull up three to make it a 5 point Celtics lead with 1:15 to go.

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 brought it up for Boston but couldn’t find anything. He dribbled out the clock a hoisted a 31 footer that just missed as DiVincenzo grabbed the rebound and Minnesota called a timeout with 7.1 seconds left.

Randle inbounded to Edwards, he drove, kicked it to McDaniels in the corner who passed it to Naz Reid at the top of the three point line, he shoots, and it clanked off 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 almost led the Timberwolves to a win.

The Celtics next game is tomorrow, Monday November 25th at 7:30pm, against the Los Angeles Clippers as a part of a home back to back.