Celtics 118-116 Pelicans (31 January 2025) Game Recap

On By Littum

New Orleans-Jayson Tatum’s Jumper with 0.7 seconds left, Boston Celtics gave a victory of 118-116 over the short-handed New Orleans Pelicans Friday night.

Jaylen Brown scored 28 points and Tatum had 27 when Celtics handed over the pelicans their fifth straight loss. New Orleans lost Dejointe Murray to a lower right leg injury in the first quarter.

Tatum had 22 points through three -quarters before being kept in check in large parts of the fourth. But Celtics went to him after CJ McCollum’s bonding basket with 24 seconds left, and he hit the possible winner over McCollum from the left wing.

Trey Murphy had a season high 40 points that went 8 for 12 on 3-Pointers. Jose Alvarado added 20 points and McCollum had 17.

Luke Kornet and Kristaps Porzingis scored 13 of Celtics’ first 17 points in the fourth quarter to build a 108-101 lead. Porzingis and Derrick White each had 16 points.

Takeaways

Celtics: Celtics had 32 assists on 42 made field goals. Porzingis had four blocks.

Pelicans: Murray, which had an average of 17.9 points, 6.5 rebounds and 7.6 assists since returning from an early season that made him miss 18 games fell to court in the first quarter with a Non-contact damage to his lower right leg. He was brought into the dressing room. … Zion Williamson sat out with a stomach error. He has missed 36 of 49 games this season.

Keying moment

McCollum threw a 35-foot hook shot against the buzzer that fell short.

Key State

McCollum continued his poor outside shooting and went 1 out of 7 from long reach. He is 7 of 27 from 3 in the last four matches.

Up next

Celtics plays in Philadelphia on Sunday night. The pelicans open a four-game road trip on Monday night against nuggets.

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AP NBA: