The Boston Celtics defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 118-116 with a Jayson Tatum game-winner. Tatum scored 27 points with 10 assists. Jaylen Brown led Boston with 28 points. The biggest scorer was Trey Murphy III, who scored 40 points with eight three-pointers. The Celtics were fully healthy, while the Pelicans were missing Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Jordan Hawkins, Daniel Thies, and Herb Jones. The Boston Celtics improved to 34-15 and the Pelicans dropped to 12-37.
A Close First Half
Even with their injuries, the Pelicans fought the Boston Celtics down to the wire in their last meeting. They looked to do the same in this game, as the two teams traded baskets in the opening minutes. Boston built multiple five or six-point leads but could not sustain them. New Orleans would tie the game on a 6-0 run. Dejounte Murray went to the locker room with an injury, later revealed as a torn Achilles. Still, the Pelicans took the lead on a Murphy III three-pointer. Murphy III was hot and scored 16 points shooting 6-of-8. At the end of the first quarter, the Boston Celtics trailed 34-31. Sam Hauser had 9 points. Tatum and Porzingis had 7 apiece.
The Pelicans tried to build their lead in the second quarter and the Celtics defense wasn’t putting up much fight. Brown heated up for the Boston Celtics, but again, they could never get a consistent lead. They took the lead back on a pair of Tatum three-pointers that sparked an 8-0 run. The Celtics held onto the slim lead with a few transition buckets and a Derrick White three-pointer. They pushed the gap to nine, but Murphy III was unconscious, drilling a deep three-pointer. This cut the deficit, but Boston was out front. At halftime, the Boston Celtics led 59-53.
The Pelicans hot shooting, especially from Murphy III, kept them in the lead for most of the half. Murphy III had 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, going 4-of-7 from three. Jose Alvarado had 9 points off the bench. The Boston Celtics tightened up in the second quarter and took the lead. Tatum led with 16 points, shooting 4-of-6 from three. Brown had 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Their defense transitioned to offense, and it gave them an advantage. They would need to keep the same consistency on both ends of the floor because the Pelicans were not going away.
The Boston Celtics Win
Both teams traded baskets to start the third quarter. Tatum and Brown were scoring for the Boston Celtics, while CJ McCollum and Murphy III poured in baskets for New Orleans. At one point, the Celtics extended their lead back to nine points, but the Pelicans clawed back and took the lead with another Murphy III three. Murphy III was making everything no matter how deep or contested and Boston had no answer. His hot hand seemed to inspire the rest of the Pelicans to make three-pointers. The Boston Celtics fought back to take the lead. Through three quarters, they held a 91-86 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Luke Kornet gave the Boston Celtics a spark with an and-one and an alley-oop dunk, but Murphy III answered with another three-pointer. Dillon Brooks lit up the Celtics with threes earlier this week and Murphy III was doing the same. New Orleans continued to make shots, but a few Porzingis buckets and a Tatum dunk gave Boston a seven-point lead. The Pelicans responded with a McCollum three to cut the lead. Then Murphy III hit his eighth three-pointer.
Like many recent Boston games, they held a slim lead that whittled minute by minute. A McCollum reverse layup made it a two-point game with three minutes remaining. Then, a Murphy III bucket tied the game. Then, Porzingis got a dunk that should have been an and-one goaltend, but instead, he missed two free throws. So, the game was tied with a minute left. Brown then hit a clutch fadeaway giving Boston the lead and McCollum tied the game with a floater in the lane. This left Tatum with the final shot. He spun inside and swished a fallaway elbow shot to win the game with 0.2 seconds left. The Boston Celtics won 118-116.
Final Thoughts
The Boston Celtics improved to 34-15 with the win. Tatum and Brown led the team throughout the game and in the clutch. Brown had 28 points on 11-of-18 shooting. Tatum had 27 points, 10 assists, and the game-winning shot. The Pelicans fell to 12-37, but Murphy III’s performance should be applauded. He scored 40 points with eight three-pointers on 12 attempts. He would not miss. Alvarado had 20 points and McCollum had 17. They face the Nuggets next, while the Boston Celtics meet the 76ers.
