Celtics Wrap: Boston Holds Off Kings In Thrilling, Last-Second 103-102 Win

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Nov 25, 2019

The Celtics weren’t about to let the Kings (again) snap their winning streak.

Sacramento ended Boston’s 10 straight wins Nov. 17. And while the game remained close for much of the contest, it was the Celtics that came away with a narrow 103-102 win Monday night at TD Garden in a game that came down to the wire.

Jaylen Brown (24), Jayson Tatum (20), Marcus Smart (17) and Enes Kanter (13) all tallied double-digit points for Boston. Buddy Hield (41), Harrison Barnes (20) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (13) held it down for the Kings. Hield had an eye-popping 11 3-pointers.

With the win, the Celtics moved to 12-4, while the Kings fell to 7-9.

Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE
PG: Marcus Smart
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Semi Ojeleye
PF: Jayson Tatum
C: Enes Kanter

C’S DOWN EARLY
The starting five kept things close for Boston in the opening 12 minutes.

The Celtics went 8-of-19 shooting overall, made just one 3-pointer and had four turnovers. Ultimately, they found themselves down just three at the end of the first. The Kings went 10-of-20 overall.

Of course, some nice defense from Smart helped pave the way for two points, while Semi Ojeleye sank a nice reverse to put the C’s up 11-9 with 6:51 left in the opening quarter.

Bogdanovic paced all shooters with seven points, while Tatum paced the C’s with five. Smart, Kanter and Brown all had four.

C’S COME BACK
It was a fun second quarter for the home team.

Down seven after three-and-a-half minutes, Tremont Waters, who was dazzling in G League, checked in for the first time in the game and nearly accounted for an assist on a Carsen Edwards trey, but his shot bounced off the rim.

Kanter’s second effort, though, resulted in a three-point play to bring Boston within five.

Edwards picked off a pass and got the ball to Smart, who passed it to Tatum for two.

The Kings opened up at 11-point lead with 6:30 left in the second quarter, forcing Brad Stevens to call a timeout in hopes to regroup. It sparked something in the C’s, as Brown sank one from downtown, got the defensive rebound and was able to draw a foul going from one end of the court to another to make this a six-point game.

And with 2:30 to go until halftime, Smart hit a 3-pointer to tie things up at 41-41, making TD Garden go crazy.

The two teams traded leads in the final minute, with the C’s opening it up a bit when Robert Williams caught one off the glass to make it a five-point game.

The C’s took a 53-46 lead into the break and closed out the half with an impressive 25-8 run, and an 8-0 run to end Q3.

Tatum, Brown and Kanter all had 11 points for Boston, while Barnes paced Sacramento with 14.

ALL TIED UP
It didn’t take long for the Kings to make it a close game again after going on a 7-2 run to cut the Celtics’ lead to 55-53.

But, much like the second, the teams traded leads before the C’s went up by four thanks to a nice Brown pump fake followed by the and-one. Brown played a major role for Boston, netting nine of its last 11 points. Those nine points came in a 2:30 span.

But a couple of Hield 3-point shots put Sacramento ahead 70-68 with 2:51 left in the third. Edwards responded with a pull-up three to put the home team back in the lead 71-70.

After 19 lead changes in the game, the C’s and Kings took a 75-75 tie into the final quarter.

A FIGHT TO THE FINISH
Each time the C’s looked poised to pull away, the Kings answered right back to keep them in it.

A Waters trey, his first in the NBA, put Boston in the lead 86-81 with 7:22 left in the game.

Brown notched his 22nd point of the night to up the lead to seven in the final six minutes.

But the pesky Kings just wouldn’t go away and made this a two-point game with just over two minutes to play, but Smart kept it that way by just getting a piece of what would have been the game-tying shot. The guard made put the C’s up four with two shots from the charity stripe.

The game came down to the wire, with the Kings going up by one before Boston reclaimed the lead with 30 seconds to go thanks to, you guessed it, Smart. The feisty guard continued to dominate the quarter, stealing the ball before driving the net. He was blocked, but Boston got the inbound pass to Tatum before the Kings called for a timeout.

The Kings got the ball down one with just 5.7 seconds to go, but missed their final shot as Boston narrowly won 103-102.

PLAY OF THE GAME
Timelord says “no.”

UP NEXT
The Celtics get set for a Thanksgiving Eve matchup with the Kyrie Irving-less Brooklyn Nets. Tip-off from TD Garden is set for 7 p.m. ET.

Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
Celtics guard Marcus Smart
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