MINNEAPOLIS – Jayson Tatum had 33 points, nine assists and eight rebounds and the Boston Celtics defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 118-115 on Thursday night.

Derrick White scored 26 points for Boston, while Sam Hauser – filling in for the injured Jaylen Brown – hit five 3-pointers and scored 15 points.

Julius Randle led Minnesota with 27 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Naz Reid added 20 points off the bench while Jaden McDaniels had 19 points and eight points.

The Timberwolves trailed by eight with two minutes to play, but had a chance to go into overtime. However, Anthony Edwards’ 3-pointer failed at the buzzer.

Takeaways

Celtics: After winning 16 of its first 19 games, Boston had a modest 8-6 record in December. A win at Minnesota was a great start to a four-game road trip to start 2025.

Timberwolves: Minnesota started the week with a chance to face one of the heavyweights in each conference. After a 113:105 loss in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, the Timberwolves narrowly fell to the Celtics.

Key moment

With the Celtics leading 46-45 midway through the second quarter, Tatum hit the second of two free throws and then scored three points on Boston’s next two possessions. That was part of a 16-6 run to end the second quarter that sent the Celtics into the locker room with a 62-51 lead.

Key statistics

Boston only committed four turnovers while the Timberwolves had 16 turnovers on the night.

Next

The Celtics visit Houston on Friday, while the Timberwolves face the Pistons in Detroit on Saturday.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba