The Boston Celtics made it two straight wins with a home victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Jaylen Brown led the way with 33 points and 12 rebounds, while Payton Pritchard added 30. The win moved Boston to 7-7 on the season. The Celtics led by as many as 24, but the Clippers kept clawing back and made it close late. Boston has struggled in tight games this season, but it held on despite James Harden’s clutch-time heroics.
Boston opened fast, taking a 9-2 lead after a Jaylen Brown mid-range jumper forced Clippers coach Tyronn Lue to call a timeout with just under nine minutes left in the quarter.
Los Angeles missed its first five shots, while Boston started 5-for-10. James Harden ended the Clippers’ drought with a three-pointer.
Payton Pritchard and Derrick White knocked down back-to-back threes to push the lead to 21-9 with 5:35 remaining, prompting another timeout. White had seven points, five rebounds and two assists during the early surge.
Brown stayed aggressive, blocking Harden on one end before going coast to coast for a layup that made it 29-13.
Pritchard continued his strong start, scoring all 12 of his first-quarter points from deep on 4-for-6 shooting.
The Clippers closed the quarter on an 8-0 run, capped by a corner 3 from Kobe Sanders, cutting the Celtics’ lead to 37-30 heading into the second.
The Clippers’ run carried into the second quarter, fueled in part by a 21-5 bench-points deficit for Boston through the first 15 minutes. A banked three-pointer by Nicolas Batum cut the Celtics’ lead to 40-35, capping a 13-2 stretch.
Boston answered with a run of its own, pushing the margin back to double digits at 47-37 after a Jordan Walsh steal and dunk. The Celtics increased their defensive pressure and converted turnovers into transition buckets.
A scary sight for Clippers fans as Derrick Jones Jr.’s knee was hit by Jaylen Brown as Brown fell on the floor and had to be helped back to the locker room.
It continued to be a game of runs. Each time Los Angeles trimmed the deficit, Boston countered but couldn’t land the knockout blow it delivered against Memphis.
With 15.9 seconds left in the half, Neemias Queta tipped in a miss to extend Boston’s lead to 63-49. On the other end, Walsh blocked Harden’s 3-point attempt to close the half.
Brown led Boston with 16 points at the break. White added 15, and Pritchard had 14. John Collins paced the Clippers with eight.
Boston opened the second half on an 8-0 run. Payton Pritchard hit a pair of 3-pointers before Jordan Walsh tipped in a Derrick White miss, forcing a Clippers timeout.
The timeout did little to slow Pritchard, who knocked down his seventh 3-pointer on 10 attempts. He later drilled his eighth, pushing the Celtics’ lead to 79-55 with just under nine minutes left in the third.
Walsh’s defense continued to stand out. Midway through the quarter, he had held James Harden to 12 points on 1-for-9 shooting, with nine of those points coming at the free-throw line.
Boston maintained an 81-64 lead midway through the frame, but despite being up by as many as 24, the Clippers surged again. A 23-7 run cut the deficit to 86-78 after a Bogdan Bogdanović 3-pointer, prompting a Joe Mazzulla timeout with 4:07 remaining.
Harden later buried a trademark step-back three with 2.4 seconds left, trimming Boston’s lead to 90-85 entering the fourth.
Brown steadied Boston early in the fourth, knocking down a 3-pointer to push the lead to 95-87 and force a timeout.
Out of the break, Brown picked off a pass and finished through contact, converting the three-point play to make it 98-87.
Despite another strong showing on the glass and several timely buckets, Luka Garza (13 points) fouled out early in the quarter.
Brown continued to cook in the midrange, repeatedly finding his spots to keep the Clippers at bay.
With 5:16 left, Harden drove and attempted to dunk over Derrick White, but White—one of the league’s best shot-blocking guards—turned it away. The block led to a Neemias Queta and-one on the other end, though he missed the free throw for a 108-96 lead.
Harden answered by drilling a straightaway three to cut it to 108-103 with 3:36 left, then drew a questionable foul on Walsh in the lane, sinking both free throws to make it 108-105. The free throws capped a 9-0 run.
Queta ended the surge with a layup off a White feed in the pick-and-roll.
White later buried a clutch three to extend the lead to 115-105 with 1:29 remaining.
A few possessions later, Harden drew another foul on Walsh on a three-point attempt and hit all three free throws, trimming the lead to 115-112 with 21.8 seconds left.
Against pressure and a double-team, Pritchard found a cutting Brown for a dunk. Harden responded again with a step-back three over White—his 29th point of the second half—to make it 117-115.
White was fouled on the next trip and hit both to restore a two-possession lead. Harden then drilled yet another three with two seconds remaining to cut it to one.
Pritchard made two free throws with 1.6 seconds left. Harden got a clean look at the buzzer, but finally missed, and the Celtics escaped with the win.
