BOSTON – To be champions in the National Basketball Association (NBA) or in any other sport, there will often be times when one has to win ugly, and Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown did just that on Friday night.
Despite a poor performance in three quarters, he still scored 36 points as the Celtics returned to the top of the Eastern Conference standings with a 121-109 home win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Boston (23-10) moved above Milwaukee (22-10) into first place after the Bucks fell to a 118-110 road loss to the Brooklyn Nets.
Brown scored 23 – the most in a single period in his NBA career –of his 36 in the fourth quarter as the Celtics picked up just their second win in seven games, outscoring the Timberwolves 33-23 in the final stanza. Jayson Tatum added 30 points, the 17th time he and Brown have both scored 30 or more in the same game.
Brown had missed his first seven three-point attempts and the momentum shifted when he sank three early in the fourth.
“It felt good. It felt really good,” he said on ESPN of his fourth quarter. “Obviously, I felt like it was just a matter of time.
“The first three quarters is probably one of the ugliest stretches of basketball in my career. But you have just got to play through it.
“This game will take you high and then take you low. I stayed with it and I was able to get over the hump.
“It was super important to get this win, we have been in a little rut, it felt good to get back on the winning side.”
It was the Celtics’ 16th straight home win against Minnesota. The Timberwolves’ last success in Boston was in March 2005.
Anthony Edwards led the Timberwolves (16-17) with 30 points.
The top spot in the East is up for grabs again on Sunday, when the Celtics host the Bucks, who will be looking to bounce back from their loss at Brooklyn.
Kevin Durant scored 24 points and Brooklyn managed to stop Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo, with a game-high 26 points, from scoring in the fourth quarter.
Kyrie Irving came alive in the last period when he scored 14 of his 18 points, as the Nets fended off a comeback attempt by the Bucks and extended the NBA’s longest active winning streak to eight games.
Brooklyn (21-12) also won for the 12th time in 13 games and improved to 10-1 in their past 11 home games.
“I think we were locked in all night on both sides of the ball, it was a great team win,” said Durant.
Irving added: “We just want to keep it up, we don’t want to take our foot off the gas pedal.”
Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer lamented his team’s inability to “take better care of the ball”.
“We’ve got to make better decisions. We can’t just have possessions without shots. It’s on me. I think I’ve got to coach them better,” he said. AFP, REUTERS
