Jaylen Brown scored 29 points, and Jayson Tatum added 26 points with eight rebounds to help the Boston Celtics extend their winning streak to five games with a 107-105 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday.
Brown was on fire from three-point range, hitting 7 of his 10 attempts, including five in the first quarter.
The Timberwolves have now lost 18 straight road games in Boston, with their last win there coming in March 2005.
Minnesota was down by just two points, 107-105, after Julius Randle made a layup with 33.6 seconds left. The Timberwolves had a chance to win with the ball in the final seconds, but Naz Reid missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Rudy Gobert had 20 rebounds and 10 points for Minnesota. Anthony Edwards finished with 28 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists, while Randle added 23 points. The Timberwolves shot 42 percent from the field and have now lost five of their last seven games.
Derrick White contributed 19 points and nine rebounds for Boston, which made 21 of 56 three-point attempts (37.5 percent).
Brown’s five 3-pointers to start the game helped the Celtics take a 15-6 lead. However, Boston then missed 11 straight shots, and Minnesota went on an 11-0 run to take a 17-15 lead. The Timberwolves led 27-24 after the first quarter.
Boston regained control in the second quarter, going up 53-43 after two free throws from Tatum with 3:39 remaining. The Celtics pushed their lead to 12, but Minnesota closed out the quarter with a 9-0 run, and Boston led 55-52 at halftime.
The Celtics came out strong in the third quarter, scoring 14 of the first 18 points to extend their lead to 69-56. They pushed the advantage to 19 points, their largest lead of the game, after an Xavier Tillman layup made it 79-60 with 4:26 left in the third. Boston led 84-73 going into the final period.
