Tatum leads Celtics to rally past Thunder
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Jayson Tatum scored 24 points, and the Boston Celtics rallied from a 16-point halftime deficit to beat the winless Oklahoma City Thunder 101-95 on Thursday night.
Marcus Morris added 21 points, Al Horford scored 19 and Kyrie Irving had 15 for the
Celtics.
Paul George scored 22 points for Oklahoma City, but shot just 7 of 22. Russell Westbrook had 13 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, but he shot 5 for 20. The Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers are the only winless teams in the league.
Morris hit a 3-pointer with 27 seconds left to give the Celtics a 98-95 lead, and they held on.
Oklahoma City led 50-34 at halftime. Boston shot just 32 percent in the first half and missed all 11 of its 3-point attempts.
Boston hit seven of its first 10 3-pointers in the third quarter to trim Oklahoma City’s lead to 70-64. At one point, Horford hit three 3-pointers in 41 seconds.
Morris hit a 3 to cut Oklahoma City’s lead to 72-70, and a steal and layup by Terry Rozier III tied the game.
Morris made a layup late in the quarter to give the Celtics a 74-73 lead at the end of the period. Boston made 9 of 14 3-pointers in the quarter.
The Thunder went up 86-83 on a layup by rookie Hamidou Diallo. Westbrook found Alex Abrines for a 3-pointer with just over five minutes to play, then Abrines hit another 3 on Oklahoma City’s next possession to push the lead to seven before the Celtics rallied.
Tip-ins
Celtics: F Gordon Hayward scored five points in 24 minutes. He hasn’t played more than 25 minutes this season as he tries to find his way on his surgically repaired left ankle.
C Aron Baynes (right hamstring strain) and G Jabari Bird (personal reasons) did not play.
Morris committed three fouls in the first quarter in just 6:50 of playing time.
Thunder: F Jerami Grant got his first start of the season, though he had been averaging 28 minutes per game. He replaced Patrick Patterson.
The Thunder made just 7 of 28 3-pointers and 14 of 25 free throws.
UP NEXT
Thunder: Host the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.
Celtics: Visit the Detroit Pistons on Saturday.