BOSTON, Jan. 3 (US): Jaylene Brown scored a career high of 50 points, taking the Boston Celtics from 14 points late in the final quarter to a 116-111 overtime win over the Orlando Magic on Sunday night.
Brown scored 21 goals in the fourth quarter, then opened overtime with his fifth of the game. Brown, whose previous career high was 46 against the Knicks on October 20, also finished in 11 rebounds as the Celtics avoided losing for the fourth time in five games, the Associated Press reported.
“We needed to win. No way we could lose this game. It didn’t look good,” said Brown, who made nine of 12 shots in the fourth quarter while leading the Celtics on a frantic comeback.
Marcus Smart added 17 points, seven assists and seven rebounds for the Celtics, who needed 11-2 in the running to force overtime. Dennis Schroeder scored 21 points and seven assists.
“We let the game come to us,” Smart said. “It wasn’t pretty. It was a little ugly. But we got the win and that’s because we kept our cool and kept going.”
Terrence Ross scored 33 goals for the magic that beat Boston 35-20 in the third quarter. They closed the period 20-4 to take a 77-65 lead in fourth and were ahead 96-82 with just over 4 minutes left in regulation.
“Everyone was going really hard tonight. We were playing with a lot of energy, a lot of hustle,” Ross said. “Anytime you play like that, you give yourself a good shot.”
Shortly after missing the free throw in a three-point play attempt with 1:40 left, Brown drove a corner kick to tie it to a 98-all with 38 seconds left. He added another layup that put Boston briefly in the 100-98 lead with 30 seconds remaining, but Tim Frazier tied again and the match was decided in overtime.
“We just have to get rid of these situations and learn from the ones we’ve been in, because we will find ourselves in more of these situations as the year goes on,” Orlando coach Jamal Mosley said.
Boston, who beat one of the top teams in the league on Friday with a 123-108 win over Phoenix, couldn’t stop the humble Magic (8-29) two days later.
Both teams were without top scorers. Cole Anthony was out of the magic team with a right ankle sprain and Boston’s Jason Tatum missed his fourth game in a row after being put on the COVID-19 health and safety protocols list last week.
Gary Harris added 23 points and Wendell Carter Jr. finished with 15 points and 16 rebounds for Orlando. Fraser, who scored 11, finished third with 14 points.
The Celtics led 45-42 in the first half despite making 14 spins in the first half and nearly let their 14-point lead slip away before the break. Frazier opened the third quarter with a 3 to hook, and started magic on a roll that would get them to 14.
“We got a little sloppy there. We were playing too fast and a little reckless at times and they were allowed to get back into the game, but overall we showed growth,” said Boston coach Aimee Udoka. There defensively we got what we wanted at the end of the game.”
Big Brown Night
Brown said he wasn’t aware he was heading toward a career night, and was too immersed in the pace of the rally to realize how many goals he scored until the last minute.
Brown is the seventh player in team history to score 50 points and fourth Celtic to reach 50 points and 10 or more rebounds in a single game, joining Tatum, Larry Bird and Kevin McHale.
“My teammates found me tonight and I dropped some shots,” Brown said.
Hint
Magic: Orlando only had four turnovers in the first half. …Mo Bamba is back after missing seven matches due to health and safety protocols. … Ji Hassani Graphite is back after missing one match due to safety protocols. … C Robin Lopez remained on the protocol list.
Celtics: Robert Williams, who scored his first hat-trick of his career on Friday with 10 points, 10 assists and 11 rebounds in the win over Phoenix, was knocked out with a sprained right toe. …although Tatum’s stature climbed to “reconfigure to return to competition”, he remained out of the squad for the fourth game in a row. … Schroeder is back after missing four matches on the protocol list. … J. Romeo Langford had a non-COVID illness and J. Broderick Thomas had lower back pain. … C Enes Freedom was still on the protocol list.
next one
Magic: In Chicago on Monday night.
Celtics: Host San Antonio on Wednesday night.