Three Studs, One Dud As Celtics Hold On For Road Win Vs. Pelicans

The Boston Celtics visited the New Orleans Pelicans to start a three-game road trip Friday night and escaped with a 118-116 victory.

Boston improved to 34-15 while New Orleans fell to 12-37.

Boston earned back-to-back victories following Wednesday’s reassuring win over the Chicago Bulls. Discipline factored late as both teams entered foul trouble and Jaylen Brown picked up a technical foul for arguing with officials. Ultimately, the Celtics did enough to hold off a scrappy comeback attempt at home from the Pelicans. It wasn’t pretty and looked a lot like the struggles Boston’s endured for two months, but the team just made it out with the win.

Here are three studs and one dud from Boston’s win:

STUDS
Jaylen Brown
Brown had to come out and perform on the third anniversary of his iconic “the energy is about to shift” tweet that’s sparked a run of dominance for the Celtics.

Brown put together an efficient night from the field on 11-of-18 and made shots when it mattered most for the Celtics. Brown delivered in the clutch in a competitive final stretch with a midrange jumper that gave the Celtics a two-point lead with just 33.9 seconds remaining.

With the game tied, Brown took it upon himself to shift the energy and finished with a team-best 28 points.

Trey Murphy III
The Pelicans quickly went to work erasing a 5-0 Celtics start with Murphy III leading the way.

The New Orleans guard flew out of the gates for a 16-point first quarter on 6-of-8 shooting. He’s averaged 21.5 points per game on the season and went to work to pressure the Celtics defense in the opening 12 minutes.

He surged again in the fourth quarter when his eighth three-pointer of the night banked in off the glass to keep Celtics lead to one possession.

Murphy finished the night against the Celtics with 40 points, which marks his season-high and just one point shy of his career-high.

Jayson Tatum
Tatum found his rhythm with a pair of second-quarter three-pointers. He led the Celtics with 16 points in the first half as an efficient shooter from the perimeter.

Boston faltered in the third period but Tatum remained aggressive to get to the basket when needed in the fourth quarter. The Celtics then put the ball in his hands on the final full possession of the game. Facing two defenders, Tatum buried the game-winning jumper at the left elbow to break a 116-116 tie.

Tatum finished off the nerve-racking game with 27 points and 10 assists to close out a double-double and a win for the Celtics.

DUDS
Turnovers
Boston got a gift from the Pelicans with 11 first-half turnovers that turned into 13 points for the Celtics in that span.

Neither side exactly did a great job taking care of the basketball as the Celtics and Pelicans combined for 33 total turnovers in the sloppy contest.