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Key Moment
What a game. What a win. What a comeback.
Boston trailed by as many as 17 points Wednesday night and by 12 during the second half. It just kept chipping, and chipping, and chipping, however, until it built a wave of momentum that Brooklyn could not stop.
That tide overtook the Nets at the start of the fourth quarter, when Boston rattled off a game-changing 14-2 run that gave it a 99-94 lead with 6:04 remaining in the game. That run also turned 19,000 Celtics fans into raging animals in the crowd.
Suffice to say, Brooklyn wasn’t coming back from that.
Jaylen Brown spurred the game-changing run by scoring 10 of Boston’s 14 points. He drained two critical 3-pointers from the perimeter, and also went through Kyrie Irving as if Irving wasn’t even there for two buckets at the rim.
Payton Pritchard scored the other four points of the run via two big jumpers.
Boston went on to pull ahead by as many as 12 points during the final minutes and its lead never dropped below five the rest of the way.
Key Player
Jaylen Brown was Boston’s top offensive player during Game 2. And boy, did the C’s need him.
Brown had it cooking from all over the court while scoring a team-best 22 points against Brooklyn. He shot 9-for-18 from the field, which included two triples and an impressive 7-for-9 effort from inside the paint. He went through, around and over defenders as they attempted to slow him down – all to no avail.
The star wing also stuffed the rest of the stat sheet. He dished out six assists, tallied four rebounds, and also tied for the game’s top mark in steals with three.
Box Score Nuggets
- Boston limited Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to a combined eight made field goals.
- The teams combined to make 52 free throws - 27 by Brooklyn and 25 by Boston.
- All five of Boston's starters scored at least 12 points, led by 22 from Jaylen Brown.
- Brown and Jayson Tatum scored a combined 19 points during the fourth quarter.
- Grant Williams played exactly 32 minutes and shot a perfect 4-for-4 from the field en route to 17 points.
- No Celtics player tallied more than six rebounds.
- Irving and Bruce Brown tied for the game high in boards with eight apiece.
- Al Horford was outstanding before fouling out, totaling 16 points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot.
- The Celtics totaled 27 assists, while Brooklyn tallied just 16.
- Durant committed six turnovers .
- Both teams scored 15 second-chance points.
- Each team led by at least 12 points.
- Tatum logged the game's only double-double with 19 points and a game-high 10 assists.
- Payton Pritchard came off the bench to total 10 points and four rebounds.
Quote of the Night
Ime Udoka on Grant Williams' perfect offensive performance