Payton Pritchard scored 32 points and found rookie Amari Williams for the go-ahead basket with 3:30 left in double overtime as the Boston Celtics outlasted the Brooklyn Nets for a 130-126 victory Friday night in New York.
The Celtics lost a 10-point lead in the final 3:06 of regulation and overcame a five-point deficit in the final 7.9 seconds of overtime when rookie Hugo Gonzalez hit a corner 3 with four-tenths of a second left.
Boston never trailed after Pritchard encountered multiple defenders and saw Williams cut to the hoop. Guarded by Ziaire Williams, Williams converted the difficult basket and finished off a 3-point play to snap a 120-120 tie for his only points of a game that saw 22 lead changes and 13 ties.
The Nets cut the lead to one twice after the Celtics went ahead but Sam Hauser hit an open corner 3 for a 128-124 lead with 1:51 left and Pritchard scored the final points with 44.2 ticks left after Noah Clowney airballed a 3-pointer.
Pritchard’s big night was aided by Jaylen Brown’s fifth career triple-double (27 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds). Hauser added 19 and combined with Pritchard to net 11 of Boston’s 22 made 3-pointers.
Luka Garza contributed 12 while Anfernee Simons and Gonzalez had 10 apiece as the Celtics shot 45% and survived getting outrebounded 58-41.
Michael Porter Jr. scored 30 points for the Nets, who lost for the 12th time in 14 games but were significantly better than Wednesday’s 54-point loss to the New York Knicks. Rookie Nolan Traore added a career-high 21 but his missed free throw with 2.8 seconds left allowed Boston to force a second overtime.
Nic Claxton contributed 18, including the tying putback dunk with 1.9 seconds left in regulation after Pritchard’s 3 put Boston up 101-91 with 3:06 left.
The Celtics won for the 18th time in their last 25 games and improved to 16-2 in the past 18 regular-season meetings against Brooklyn following their shaky final minutes of regulation.
Before the overtimes, the Nets held a 55-49 lead at halftime and an 81-78 lead into the fourth after a basket by Traore in the final seconds.
–Field Level Media
