Celtics are championship aspiring. All pelicans are fighting is the selection of the number 1 draft.
You would not know to see any of his two meetings this season, which were decided in recent seconds.
After escaping with a home victory over New Orleans on January 12, Boston needed a game winner who exceeds Jayson Tatum’s timbre to take the revenge on Friday 118-116 at the Smoothie King Center.
The 20 -foot jumper with 0.1 seconds limited a 27 -point night for Tatum, who added 10 assists, six rebounds and a robbery. The co -star Jaylen Brown scored a maximum of 28 points, including a advantage field goal with 34 remaining seconds, with Derrick White adding 16. Kristaps Porzingis finished with 16 points, six assists, five rebounds, four blocks and three robberies. The backup center, Luke Kornet, scored 11 points from the bank, with seven arriving in the last quarter.
The Pelicans with the short hand obtained a monster game of Trey Murphy III, who dominated the defense of the Celtics with 40 points in 15 of 20 shots, including 8 of 12 from the range of 3 points. The José Alvarado reserve guard added 20 points for New Orleans, which fell to 12-37 with the loss.
The 34-15 Celtics will visit the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday before heading to Cleveland on Tuesday to face the leading cavaliers of the Eastern Conference. The CAVs lead the defending champions for 5 1/2 games in the East Classification.
Nueva Orleans continued 22-21 when I left Murray suffered an injury at the bottom of the leg and had to be helped to the costumes. Murray, who scored 26 points and lost a triple double in the first confrontation of the teams in TD Garden, did not return and was seen leaving the sand in crutches, according to NBC reporter Sports Boston Boston Boston Sidelle Abby Chin. ESPN reported after the game that Murray broke the Achilles.
The Pelicans were also playing without the Opht star, Zion Williamson, who lost the game due to a disease.
Despite these key absences, Underdog’s hosts led 34-31 at the end of one, driven by 16 points of Murphy’s first quarter. That gap would have been broader if Sam Hauser did not shoot after an absence of two games. Inactive against Houston on Monday and Chicago on Wednesday when he took care of a hip injury, Hauser connected three of his first four triples on his return to action, and the three arrived in the 2:55 finals of the first quarter.
Brown was the engine of the Celtics to start the second quarter, scoring his first two field goals and helping in his third (a Kornet dump). These points pushed the newly announced all-Star of the ESE conference to more than 11,000 for his career, which makes him the 15th Boston player to reach that milestone. The others: 12 retired numbers, Antoine Walker and Tatum.
Tatum, who played the entire first quarter for the second consecutive game, reviewed half of the second and immediately drilled three three. His next attempt was lost, but Porzingis cornered the ball and fed White for a tray to limit a 14-4 Celtics race.
White was the catalyst of another Boston rally shortly before part time. The sandy guard chose Murphy’s pocket in consecutive possessions of the pelicans, which led to a couple of fast trays, then hit three of Jrue’s holiday assistance. Tatum added his third triple of the fourth moments later to put the Celtics 59-50. They took a six -point advantage in the locker room.
Porzingis scored only seven points in the first half, calm according to its recent standards, considering that it came averaging almost 10room Points since the beginning of January, but recorded four assists, three robberies and two blockages. As a team, the Celtics helped in 20 of their 23 baskets made before part time, with the five headlines distributing at least three.
But the annoying pins stayed. Boston’s advantage never reached two digits, and could not find a solution for Murphy, who crossed the 30 -point brand with 18 minutes to play. The corner disputed and with a recoil of the laundre wing on White’s extended arms put New Orleans ahead, 77-75.
Brown responded by scoring eight points in a period of three possessions (three three of average range range), but the pelicans agreed with each of their brands with one of theirs. Brown was also whistled by a technical foul during that section for discussing a suspicious offensive foul call.
A Payton Pritchard Three, the first points of the night for the top scorer of the NBA, broke a draw with 1:03 remaining in the third, and the subsequent free throws of Tatum did it 91-86 entering the room.
The Celtics leaned on their greats to start the final painting, obtaining seven points of Kornet, six from Porzingis and two from Al Horford before any other Boston player scored. A tatum overturned against Brandon Boston put the Celtics Seven, but the pellars again recovered, obtaining two rapid cubes to cut it to two.
A chain of expensive failures, including a lost tray, a lost free kick and a three losses from Tatum, prevented the Celtics from pressing their advantage, and New Orleans even threw a Murphy tray played with 1:37 to play. Porzingis also lost two free throws after what looked like a failed goal call. Brown’s jumper gave the Celtics a late advantage, but McCollum, who could not convert a possible game winning tray when the teams played in Boston, hit a equalization float with 24 seconds on the clock.
That prepared the stage for the late winner of Tatum, who rescued the Celtics of what would have been an irritating loss. Boston lost six free throws of the fourth quarter, all of Tatum, Brown and Porzingis, and showed some of the same deficiencies in the crunch time that have harassed him during the last more than six weeks. Chief coach Joe Mazzulla said at the beginning of the week that the poor execution of the late game was the main reason why the non-impressive record of the Celtics (now 13-10 since December 16) did not coincide with his five classifications between the best five in offensive and defensive efficiency.
However, the Mazzulla team survived this and will carry a bidirectional streak in Philadelphia. The 19-28 Sixers have had unfortunate performance this season, but they took their first meeting with Boston, winning 118-114 in Garden TD on Christmas Day.
Outside the edge
“Happy energy is about to change the day,” Brown Posted in x On Friday afternoon, commemorating the third anniversary of the famous Tweet that fired on January 31, 2022. At that time, the Ime Uudoka Celtics were 26-25. From that date, Boston has 221-86, with two final appearances of the NBA; the best offensive qualification, defensive qualification and net qualification in the league; and more than 20 victories more than any other franchise.
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