Celtics center Neemias Queta (left) and guard Jaylen Brown battle for a loose ball with Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert (27) during the first quarter.
Celtics center Neemias Queta (left) and guard Jaylen Brown battle for a loose ball with Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert (27) during the first quarter.Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
This season the Celtics have built one of the most efficient and powerful offenses in NBA history. But there were few signs of it against the Timberwolves on Sunday night.
In the second quarter, the Celtics saw a 15-point lead vanish when they coughed up nine turnovers. In the fourth quarter, they watched a 3-point advantage evaporate when they were held without a point for nearly 6 minutes.
The result was an ugly 102-92 loss against a Minnesota team missing superstar guard Anthony Edward, who is sidelined because of knee inflammation. It was the Wolves’ first win in Boston since the 2004-05 season.
With the loss, the second-place Celtics (47-23) now lead the third-place Knicks by just a half game in the Eastern Conference standings.
Jaylen Brown had 29 points and 7 rebounds to lead Boston. Jayson Tatum finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds after a scoreless first half. The Celtics shot just 35.4 percent from the field.
Boston led, 69-61, with five minutes left in the third quarter. But the Wolves sliced the deficit to 1 by the start of the fourth, and with Brown and Tatum on the bench, Minnesota surged.
The run started with Bones Hyland, who hit a layup, a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer. Then Naz Reid took it from there, scoring on a 3-point play, a 3-pointer, and a left-handed hook shot, burying the Celtics with a 15-0 run that gave the Wolves a 93-81 lead with 6:28 left.
Tatum finally snapped the 5:40 scoreless streak when he converted a 3-point play with 4:32 left, but Julius Randle answered with a 3-pointer, and the Celtics fizzled.
The Celtics popped the Wolves with energy plays at the start. Derrick White converted a putback and came up with a steal that led to a Hauser layup as part of a game-opening 11-2 run.
Minnesota’s shooting struggles, meanwhile, were glaring. The Wolves were just 6 for 23 during their grisly first quarter. The Celtics were only marginally better, including a 1-for-9 mark from the 3-point line. But they built a 23-14 lead thanks to an early 8-0 edge in second-chance points, leaning on one of their strengths while exploiting a Wolves weakness.
Three-pointers by White and Baylor Scheierman in the first minute of the second quarter stretched Boston’s lead to 29-14, its largest.
The Celtics, who entered the night averaging a league-low 12.3 turnovers per game, have thrived this season in large part because of their ability to protect the ball and win the possession battle. But the rest of the second period devolved into a sordid mess, one of Boston’s worst stretches of the season.
The Celtics committed nine turnovers in the period, with six coming on Minnesota steals, the live-ball gaffes that coach Joe Mazzulla abhors. With 5:12 left, Wolves guard Ayo Dosunmu gobbled up a Tatum pass and raced in for a layup that gave Minnesota a 35-33 lead, its first.
It was a challenging start for Tatum, who was coming off a 3-for-15 performance in Friday’s win over the Grizzlies. He missed all four of his shots doing a scoreless first half and never appeared in rhythm.
The Celtics’ issues taking care of the ball swelled in the final few minutes of the quarter. On four consecutive possessions, the Wolves had three steals and forced a jump ball that they won.
A 3-pointer at the buzzer by Hyland, who had 14 points off the bench in the half, sent the Wolves to the break with a 47-44 lead.
The Celtics ran a play for Tatum to start the third quarter, and he converted a driving layup. Sometimes that is all he needs. He quickly followed that with a 3-pointer, a steal and layup, and a pull-up 3 that helped flip that halftime deficit into a 58-52 advantage. For a long stretch Boston’s offense consisted of Tatum bringing the ball upcourt, waiting for a screen, then attacking.
Boston, which did not commit a turnover in the quarter, stretched its lead to as many as 8 points before the Wolves clawed back. A 3-point play by Reid and layup by Hyland in the final 75 seconds pulled Minnesota within 77-76 after three quarters.
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.