The Boston Celtics welcome in 2025 facing the toughest stretch of the season in January with three back-to-back games and 10 out of 16 games on the road. Coupled with the condensed schedule, Boston is fighting injuries with Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis both ruled unavailable against the Timberwolves.
First up for 2025, the C’s faced the 17-15 Timberwolves in the first of four road games against Western Conference opponents and without two starters, Boston weathered some hot shooting from their hosts and beat Minnesota 118-115.
Minnesota opened the scoring with Jaden McDaniels hitting on a pair of free throws, then Julius Randle hit his step back three-pointer. Anthony Edwards got downhill and drove on Tatum who fouled the dynamic guard and hit on both free throws.
Boston finally got on the scoreboard at the nine-and-a-half-minute mark behind an Al Horford layup. Mike Conley, Jaden McDaniels and Julius Randle all connected from distance for the TWolves, before coach Joe Mazzulla called a timeout, with his team down 16-7 after just 4 minutes of play.
Coming out of the timeout, Sam Hauser hit a corner three, then Jayson Tatum hit a wide open three-pointer from the top of the key as Boston looked to get back into the game. Payton Pritchard then came off the bench gunning, swishing in his first shot attempt from distance. Luke Kornet provided a solid effort in his first quarter minutes with 3 points, 2 boards and 1 assist.
Both teams got up plenty of three-point shots in this first quarter as they combined for 30 shot attempts and 13 successful attempts. Minnesota had contributions from plenty of players with 6 scorers to lead 35-28 after one quarter of play.
Boston roared back to register their first lead of the game with Tatum on the bench as Sam Hauser came to play in the second quarter. Hauser, who replaced All-Star Jaylen Brown in the starting five, registered his twelfth point of the night, on his fourth three-pointer as scores tied up at 41-41.
Boston ramped up the defensive pressure in the second quarter, troubling the Minnesota ball handlers. The Timberwolves had 7 turnovers midway through the second quarter, as the Queta-Horford frontcourt pairing provided some extra effort that has been lacking recently.
Tatum…
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