The Celtics have blown fourth-quarter leads in four of their seven losses this season. James Harden tried his best to add to that list on Sunday.
Harden scored 18 of his 37 points in the final five minutes — including nine in the last 22 seconds of regulation — as the visiting Clippers cut a 24-point Boston lead to one. But the former NBA MVP’s would-be game-tying 3-pointer clanged off the rim as time expired, allowing the Celtics to escape with a 121-118 win at TD Garden.
Jaylen Brown paced the 7-7 Celtics with 33 points and 13 rebounds in his first double-double of the season. Payton Pritchard scored a season-high 30 on 10-of-16 shooting, including 8-for-13 from 3-point range. Derrick White hit four of his eight threes — including a clutch make late as Boston weathered Harden’s furious comeback bid — to finish with 22 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.
The 4-8 Clippers have been one of the Western Conference’s biggest disappointments this season, needing double overtime Friday night in Dallas to snap a six-game losing streak. Tyronn Lue’s squad played Sunday’s game without six-time All-Star Kawhi Leonard and lost starter Derrick Jones Jr. to a knee injury during the second quarter.
Boston will face another scuffling opponent, the 1-11 Nets, on Tuesday in Brooklyn.
After making four-plus 3-pointers in just three of his first 13 games, Pritchard hit that number in the first quarter against LA, starting 4-for-5 from distance as the Celtics built an early double-digit lead. White also converted his first three 3-point attempts.
Boston’s starting guards were among the NBA’s most erratic outside shooters over the first three weeks of the season, but both have settled in of late. Pritchard and White went a combined 20-for-37 (54.0%) over Boston’s last two games.
Brown did much of his first-half scoring at or near the rim — including a pair of and-one layups in transition — but also added to his growing resume as the NBA’s foremost midrange shot-maker this season. Brown, the league leader in midrange baskets made per game, hit a turnaround jumper from the foul line and two long twos, helping the Celtics carry a 63-49 lead into halftime.
Many players and teams, including the Celtics, have deemphasized midrange shooting in recent years in favor of higher-percentage dunks/layups and higher-scoring 3-pointers. But those shots have been a weapon for Brown this season as he spearheads the Celtics’ offense without injured co-star Jayson Tatum.
Brown entered Sunday shooting a career-best 53.2% on midrange field goals and 62.1% from between 15 and 19 feet, per NBA player tracking. No NBA player has made more shots per game from either distance this season.
Pritchard threatened to put the game out of reach with four more 3-pointers in the opening four minutes of the second half, but a 15-2 Clippers run cut Boston’s lead from 22 points to 11.
Harden, held in check by Jordan Walsh and Baylor Scheierman in the first half, came alive with 14 points in the third quarter. The Celtics also struggled to keep the Clippers off the offensive glass; one-third of the 36 points LA scored in the quarter were of the second-chance variety.
The Clippers trailed 90-85 entering the final period. Free throws from Bogdan Bogdanovich made it a three-point game. Then, Boston recovered.
Brown stole a Bogdanovic pass, then grabbed an offensive rebound to set up a Neemias Queta layup, then poured in 11 points in the next three minutes to help the Celtics rebuild a double-digit advantage.
Points by Harden on three straight possessions got LA back to within three, but the Clippers couldn’t find the equalizer. Queta helped halt the rally with a make at the rim, followed by a strong contest at the other end that sprung Walsh for a transition layup. White then drilled a 3-pointer — his first since early in the second quarter — to make it 115-105 with 1:29 remaining.
Harden drew a three-shot foul on Walsh a minute later that made it 115-112, but Brown flushed a dunk on the ensuing possession to ice the game for Boston.
#### Other observations:
— Sam Hauser played just seven minutes for Boston, by far his fewest in any game this season, finishing with no points on 0-for-3 shooting. A characteristically reliable shooter early this season, Hauser has made just 5 of his 34 threes (14.7%) and 1 of 6 twos over the Celtics’ last seven contests. He’s scored in double figures just twice this season, and not since Oct. 29.
— Anfernee Simons also posted his first goose egg in a Celtics uniform, going 0-for-3 with two turnovers in his 12 minutes off the bench. Scheierman (plus-12) was the only Boston reserve to record a positive plus/minus in the win.
— The good from Luka Garza: 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting, plus three offensive rebounds. The bad: Boston’s backup center was a minus-14 and fouled out after just 14 minutes of floor time.