The Celtics overcame a dreadful offensive first half and a 22-point Warmth result in safe their fifth straight win Friday night time.
Derrick White’s nook 3-pointer with 1:31 remaining put Boston forward for good in a 98-96 thriller over Miami at TD Backyard.
Veteran newcomer Nikola Vucevic, acquired from Chicago earlier within the week for Anfernee Simons, recorded a double-double off the bench in his Celtics debut, ending with 11 factors, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and two steals in 28 minutes.
Payton Pritchard, pushed from starter to sixth man after Simons’ exit, topped 20 factors for the third straight recreation, scoring 19 of his 24 within the second half to assist gas Boston’s comeback. White shot 6-for-20 from the ground however scored 21 factors and blocked 4 photographs, together with one within the closing minute that may have tied the sport.
Jaylen Brown led all scorers with 29 factors on 11-of-25 capturing, offsetting his seven turnovers.
Up subsequent for the 34-18 Celtics: a marquee matinee matchup towards the New York Knicks on Tremendous Bowl Sunday (12:30 p.m.).
The Celtics opened with a double-big lineup for the second straight recreation, sending out Neemias Queta and Luka Garza alongside White, Brown and Sam Hauser.
Earlier Celtics groups closely relied on multi-center items — final season’s performed greater than 1,200 minutes with two of Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, Luke Kornet and Queta on the ground — however they’ve been virtually fully absent from Joe Mazzulla’s recreation plans this season. Earlier than Queta and Garza began collectively in Wednesday’s highway romp over Houston, they’d shared the ground for simply three whole minutes. Garza had performed a further two minutes with rookie third-stringer Amari Williams.
The Queta-Garza pairing was extremely efficient towards the Rockets, however a lot much less so Friday night time. After Boston shortly fell behind 9-2, Mazzulla lifted each bigs and inserted Vucevic and Pritchard, who’s come off the bench in every recreation since Simons’ departure.
Vucevic entered to a loud ovation from the Backyard crowd and notched a steal, two offensive rebounds, two assists and a putback in his first seven-minute shift. However Bam Adebayo and the Warmth incessantly focused the 35-year-old on protection as they constructed a 25-6 lead.
On the different finish, Brown and White shot a mixed 1-for-11 from the sector within the first quarter, and Boston began 1-for-21 from 3-point vary, with Baylor Scheierman offering the lone make off a feed from Vucevic. The Celtics trailed 29-15 after their lowest-scoring opening interval of the season.
Down 42-22 early within the second quarter, Boston moved away from the three ball and leaned on inside aggressiveness from Brown. That shift gave the Celtics a little bit of offensive momentum — Brown threw down a driving dunk out of a timeout, then scored on 5 of the following six possessions — however had little affect on the rating line.
Miami’s lead by no means dropped beneath 17 factors within the second quarter and was again to 21 by halftime, 59-38. On the half, Brown had 17 factors, and no different Celtic had greater than 5. The veteran quartet of Brown, White, Pritchard and Hauser had tried 16 threes and made none.
However simply as they did within the groups’ earlier assembly, when 39 factors from Simons helped Boston erase a 19-point deficit in a Jan. 15 win, the Celtics roared again within the second half.
The Celtics’ Queta-Garza grouping opened the second half with a 6-0 run, and Brown lastly ended Boston’s 3-point drought by drilling one on the 7:58 mark of the third quarter. That bucket appeared to unlock the remainder of the Celtics’ offense.
Pritchard and White canned back-to-back threes, sandwiched round a White steal, to chop the Warmth’s result in 12. One other Pritchard triple after a Miami timeout, adopted by an and-one scoop shot within the lane, made it a six-point recreation.
Boston then started feeding the brand new man. Vucevic scored eight factors in simply over two minutes — six on layups, two on free throws he earned by drawing an offensive foul away from the ball — to get the Celtics to inside one. A nook three from White closed the hole, tying the sport at 72-72 with 40 seconds to play within the third.
The Celtics outscored the Warmth 36-15 within the quarter, then constructed a five-point lead early within the fourth. Although Brown sparked the comeback, he watched a lot of it from the bench. Boston was plus-21 with Brown off the ground within the second half, together with a 30-7 run.
Pritchard was the Celtics’ offensive engine throughout that stretch, giving them the identical inflow of off-the-bench scoring that Simons did three weeks earlier. After a five-point first half, he scored 9 within the third quarter and 10 extra within the fourth.
White drew a three-shot foul and made all three free throws to place the Celtics forward 91-89 with 4:49 remaining, then hit a 3-pointer from the identical spot to make it 98-96 with 1:31 to play. Brown transformed two robust financial institution photographs within the closing minutes, however his jumper within the lane that may have iced the sport with 40 seconds to play was waved off for an offensive foul.
