NEW ORLEANS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston’s Jaylen Brown scored 28 points and Jayson Tatum added 27, including a tie-breaking jumper with 0.2 seconds left, as the visiting Celtics held off the New Orleans Pelicans 118-116 on Friday night.
Tatum added 10 assists, Kristaps Porzingis and Derrick White scored 16 points each and Luke Kornet had 11 off the bench for the Celtics.
Trey Murphy III scored a season-high 40 points, Jose Alvarado added 20, CJ McCollum had 17 and Brandon Boston Jr. 10 for New Orleans, which lost its fifth straight game. Pelicans starting point guard Dejounte Murray had to be helped to the locker room after injuring his lower right leg in the first quarter. He did not return.
New Orleans trailed by five after three quarters, but Alvarado hit a 3-pointer to open scoring in the fourth. The Pelicans got within two points four more times, with the Celtics answering on the first three. On the fourth occasion, Murphy made a short jumper to finally pull New Orleans even at 114 with 1:37 left.
Brown and McCollum exchanged baskets before Tatum dribbled down the clock and swished the game-winner from 21 feet.
Four Celtics scored during a 9-6 run to start the third quarter, increasing the Celtics’ lead to 68-59. Murphy made two 3-pointers, and Alvarado and Karlo Matkovic made one each as the Pelicans took a 77-75 lead.
Brown scored eight points and White and Payton Pritchard scored three each as Boston took a 91-86 lead going into the fourth.
Murphy scored 16 points to help New Orleans take a 34-31 lead at the end of the first quarter.
New Orleans led by five twice early in the second quarter, but Kornet made consecutive baskets to complete a 6-0 run and put Boston ahead by one point. The Pelicans regained the lead briefly, but Tatum made consecutive 3-pointers to start an 8-0 run that gave the Celtics a 47-42 lead.
New Orleans closed within one point twice, but White and Tatum each made a 3-pointer to help Boston extend the lead to nine. Murphy’s 3-pointer trimmed New Orleans’ deficit to 59-53 at halftime.
–Field Level Media