When both teams were without important players, the Boston Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 117-113 in overtime on Wednesday night thanks to 25 points from Jaylen Brown and 24 from Jayson Tatum.
Sam Hauser tied his season record with five 3-pointers with 15 points, while Derrick White contributed 20. The reigning NBA champs did not have Kristaps Porzingis or Jrue Holiday.
Derrick Jones Jr. led the Clippers with a career-high 29 points, including 17 in the first quarter. Amir Coffey had 24 and Kevin Porter Jr. added a season-high 26. Ivica Zubac, Norman Powell, James Harden, and Kawhi Leonard of LA were all benched.
With 4.2 seconds left, Jones stole the ball from Brown and scored to level the game at 103-103 and force overtime after Coffey dunked to cut the Clippers’ deficit to seven points in the fourth quarter.
White, Tatum, and Brown all made 3-pointers to give the Celtics a 112-105 advantage to start the five-minute extra session. Coffey’s three-pointer with 30 seconds remaining was the final time the Clippers reduced the margin to two points.
Time ran out when Neemias Queta scored underneath after the Celtics pushed the ball downcourt.
Takeaways
Celtics: With Tatum scoring just five points in the fourth quarter, they made four 3-pointers after trailing for the majority of the third quarter.
Clippers: Against the second-place Celtics in the East, they had the opportunity to watch some of their younger players come up.
Key moment
After falling behind by six points early in the fourth, the Celtics rallied. They took a seven-point lead after scoring 13 points in a row, including three 3-pointers in a row—two from White and one from Tatum.
Key stat
There were 25 lead changes and 16 ties in the game.
Up next
On Thursday night, the Celtics travel to Los Angeles to play the Lakers. To complete their second back-to-back this week, the Clippers will play NBA-worst Washington on Thursday night.