Jaylen Brown had 31 points, eight rebounds and eight assists to help the Boston Celtics end the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder’s 12-game winning streak with a 119-109 victory Wednesday in a game that featured the last two NBA champions.
Jayson Tatum added 19 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists for the Celtics, who trailed by 13 in the first quarter. Boston received 14 points from Payton Pritchard, who was 4 of 6 from 3-point territory.
Oklahoma City was within six with 1:30 to play, but a Brown jumper gave Boston a 117-109 advantage with 47.3 left.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 33 points and eight assists for Oklahoma City, last year’s NBA champion. Gilgeous-Alexander was 10 of 12 from the field and 10 of 12 from the free throw line. Lu Dort made four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points.
Boston was 7 of 24 (29.2%) from the floor in the first quarter and trailed 31-20 after 12 minutes.
A Pritchard 3-pointer capped an 11-0 run and handed the Celtics a 49-46 lead with 1:15 remaining in the first half, but Oklahoma City scored the final seven points in the second quarter and had a 53-49 advantage at halftime. Eleven Oklahoma City players scored in the first half.
The Celtics tied the game at 71-all on two Brown free throws and took a 74-73 lead on a Baylor Scheierman 3-pointer with 5:07 remaining in the third quarter. The Celtics had an 86-81 lead following a Pritchard jumper with 30.4 seconds left in the third, and led 88-83 entering the fourth.
Three Tatum free throws gave the Celtics a 96-87 edge with 9:49 to play, and Boston extended the lead to 103-92 on Brown’s three-point play with 7:32 left. Boston was up 108-94 after two Brown free throws with 6:09 to play and the Thunder failed to get closer than six after that.
