Celtics win streak snapped in home loss to Timberwolves
The C’s couldn’t keep their win streak going on their home court, fizzling out in the fourth quarter in another disappointing loss against a playoff team.
The Boston Celtics could not finish their week on a high note, dropping a 102-92 decision to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a prime-time matchup at TD Garden on Sunday night.
Minnesota took over in the fourth quarter in this one, trailing 77-76 after three and racing past the Celtics over the final 12 minutes. The C's went cold offensively in the fourth, shooting 5-for-26 as a team (19.2%). Even more notably, they shot just 5-for-16 (31.3%) on shot attempts inside the paint. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined to shoot just 3-for-10 from the floor, including an 0-for-4 closing quarter for Brown.
The T'Wolves, meanwhile, put up a representative shooting performance down the stretch, and accomplished that without All-Star guard Anthony Edwards. Big man Naz Reid led all scorers with eight fourth-quarter points, while Bones Hyland scored seven and posted a team-high 23 points in the game. Minnesota went up 102-86 with 1:45 left, and Joe Mazzulla pulled his regulars at that point.
Rookie Max Shulga checked in for his sixth NBA game, and managed to score his first four career points over the final 1:45. In an interesting bit of history, Shulga had played in the Maine Celtics' G League game earlier in the day on Sunday then traveled south to suit up for the NBA club, making him the first player in franchise history to score in an NBA game and a G League game on the same day.
The C's recently signed Shulga to a standard contract, a sign that more consistent NBA minutes are in the near future for him.
Brown led all scorers overall with 29 points, but his and the team's inefficiency ultimately found the Celtics falling behind the Timberwolves when it got to the critical minutes. Brown's game was a tale of two halves, dropping 17 points on 46.2% shooting in the first but 12 points on 23.1% shooting in the second.
Entering Monday, the Celtics are clinging to a half-game lead for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference over the New York Knicks, who took care of business against the lowly Wizards with a 32-point win on Sunday. The C's have a harder remaining regular season schedule than the Knicks, based on the data at Tankathon, so they may have to pull off some hard-earned wins against top opponents in order to just maintain the 2-seed, let alone catch the Pistons for the top spot. A potentially massive matchup at Madison Square Garden looms on April 9.
Since the calendar turned to 2026, the Celtics are an even 9-9 against teams currently holding a top-8 seed in either conference. They're just 2-3 in that department since Tatum returned. Realistically, the C's are still primed for a deep playoff run with a real chance to make the NBA Finals. But the idea is they get more out of their stars in the critical moments of games, and their overall mediocrity against other playoff teams is making it harder to predict how they're going to perform when they get to that stage.
Up Next: The C's get a couple of days off, then on Wednesday night they host the NBA-best Oklahoma City Thunder, in a golden opportunity to avenge their recent road loss in OKC and re-establish themselves as a legitimate contender to dethrone them.
