The Celtics won their fifth straight with a 98-96 comeback victory over the Miami Heat Friday night at TD Garden.
Jaylen Brown led all scorers with 29 points on 11-of-25 shooting, while Payton Pritchard scored 24 points (8-of-15 and 4-of-6 from 3) in this third-straight game off the bench since the trade of Anfernee Simons. Derrick White added 21 points, five assists for the Celtics -- who came back from another 20-point deficit against Miami in the last three weeks.
Andrew Wiggins finished with 26 points, while All-Star Norman Powell had 24 points and Bam Adebayo chipped in 16 points, seven rebounds for the Heat, who dropped to 27-26 on the season.
The Celtics fell into 15-2 hole to open the game before trailing by as many as 22 in the second quarter and 59-38 at the break, while shooting a surprising 28% from the field in the first half.
Down 67-49 within the first three minutes of the third period, the Celtics used a 25-7 run in the final seven minutes of the quarter. White knocked down two go-ahead free throws with 9.1 seconds left in quarter to break a 72 tie -- their first lead of the night.
White hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:31 left to play to put the Celtics ahead for good, the team's ninth 3-ponter on 15 attempts in the second half after going 1-of-20 from deep in the first two quarters.
The Heat had a chance to win it in regulation, but Davion Mitchell missed a corner 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds remaining, as Boston held on to another impressive come from behind win.
"I kind of put the guys in a tough spot to start the game, just processing all the what-if scenarios," Joe Mazzulla said in his postgame presser. "We were just kind of bogged down by those things … Once we just kind of simplified it, and once the game went on and we were able to see those reads, I thought the guys did a much better job."
Nikola Vučević was received with a standing ovation when he entered midway through the first quarter, before recording a double-double of 11 points, 12 rebounds in his Celtic debut since being dealt from the Bulls this past week.
The Celtics (34-18), now in second place in the Eastern Conference, will host the third place New York Knicks (34-19) on Sunday. ABC has the matinee tip-off at 12:30 pm ET.
Game Notes:
Boston and the visiting team were 42% from the field respectively, but the C's were 10-of-36 (28%) from 3 and the Heat were 13-of-40 (32%) from deep. The Celtics won the rebound battle 50-42 and outscored the Heat 42-32 in the paint. The home team had 23 assists on 35 baskets and Miami had 17 dimes on 35 made shots.
Joel Pavón
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