The Boston Celtics’ stay in California continues to be a good one — especially for Gordon Hayward.
After dump-trucking the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, the Celtics kept things going in the second contest of their four-game West Coast road trip, sneaking past the Sacramento Kings 111-109 on Wednesday at Golden 1 Center.
With the game tied at 109, Hayward ran the length of the floor and hit a 9-foot jumper with 2 seconds left to give the C’s the victory.
Al Horford recorded a double-double, dropping 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Jayson Tatum shared the game-high with 24 points, while Marcus Morris (19 points), Terry Rozier (16 points), Hayward (12) and Jaylen Brown (10) also scored in double figures.
Harrison Barnes had 24 points and was one of five Kings in double figures.
With the win, the Celtics climb to 40-26, while the Kings fall to 32-32 with the loss.
Here’s how it all went down.
STARTING FIVE
PG: Terry Rozier
SG: Marcus Smart
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Marcus Morris Sr.
C: Al Horford
NO KYRIE
The Celtics were without star point guard Kyrie Irving on Wednesday. He was scratched a few hours prior to tip with a left thigh contusion.
TRADING CHANCES
Both teams created a little separation in the first quarter, but once the opening 12 minutes concluded it was the Kings that led 32-26.
The Celtics built themselves a bit of room with a 9-2 run that put them up eight with 8:13 left, but the Kings had little issue clawing back into a tie. They responded with an 8-0 run that concluded shortly before the midway point of the quarter.
A 12-2 stretch by the Kings sent them up eight with less than a minute left, and after trading punches in the waning seconds, an impressive Rozier buzzer-beating triple cut Boston’s deficit to six.
Rozier led all players with 10 first-quarter points.
BOTH SIDES RUNNING
The second quarter wasn’t exactly a display of basketball excellence, with the two sides going into the break tied at 49 after Boston outscored Sacramento 23-17. During the period, both teams’ offense went ice cold for minutes at a time.
Early on, the Celtics did a nice job wiping away the Kings’ lead and creating one of their own. They strung together an 11-0 run over 2:41 to give themselves a four-point advantage at the 6:35 mark. But the Kings responded by kicking their offense into gear, while the Celtics’ went quiet. That resulted in Sacramento scoring seven unanswered points to go back ahead.
Both teams got one final possession with the game tied at 49 before the half, but neither could score to go into the break with the momentum in their favor.
Tatum led all players with 15 points at the half after leading all players with 11 second-quarter points. The first 24 minutes featured seven ties and four more lead changes.
NECK-AND-NECK
Though the Celtics seemingly began to take control in the third period, the Kings didn’t go away quietly. Boston outscored Sacramento 33-28 in the third to head into the final stanza ahead 82-77.
It was more of the same for the opening minutes of the second half, with neither team allowing the other to take too much control. Trailing by three, the Celtics rattled off eight unanswered on treys from Morris and Rozier with a layup by Smart mixed in to force Sacramento into a timeout at the 6:30 mark.
Boston’s preserved its lead from there, even though the Kings did a decent job creating some offensive opportunities. Hayward poured in two points with 80 seconds left to go, upping the Celts’ lead to 10, their biggest of the game to that point. But the Kings scored the frame’s last five points to trail just three heading into the final quarter.
Barnes contributed 14 points in the third, most of any player.
HAYWARD WINS IT
With the way the game had gone, it was clear Wednesday’s tilt would end in exciting fashion.
With their lead going back and forth between three and five points, the Celtics finally got some much-needed space thanks to a Morris trey. Smart drove to the rim and kicked a pass out to Morris on the baseline, and the forward drained the triple to put Boston ahead 103-97 with 3:13 left.
De’Aaron Fox later responded by scoring four points to trim the deficit to two with 1:45 in regulation. Tatum then got to the foul line and knocked down both attempts, but Buddy Hield hit a 3-pointer the next trip down to put the Kings within one.
In their next possession, Tatum hit a fadeaway jumper to get the lead back to three, but that was met with a Nemanja Bjelica to Willie Cauley-Stein alley-oop to yet again slim the lead to one.
With about 20 seconds left, Smart got the ball and started sprinting toward the other end. As the Kings tried to foul him, Smart slipped and the ball went loose, but Morris dived on it, got possession and called timeout.
Upon receiving the inbounds pass, Tatum drove to the net and got fouled, hitting both attempts to make it 109-106 Celtics with 15 seconds left.
The Celtics caught a tough break, as Hield uncorked a three that he just narrowly missed. But Hayward fouled him on the play, and he sunk each free throw to tie the game.
With 7 seconds left, Morris got the ball to Hayward on the inbound, and Hayward drove the length of the court and hit a contested 9-foot fadeaway to give the Celtics the lead, and the win.
Barnes tried a deep, contested three to win the game for the Kings at the buzzer, but missed.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Nope.
UP NEXT
The Celtics continue their West Coast road trip Saturday against the Los Angeles Lakers. Tip from Staples Center is set for 8:30 p.m. ET.
