Celtics hold on to beat Timberwolves, Jaylen Brown scores 35

MINNEAPOLIS(AP) — Jaylen Brown scored 35 points, Jayson Tatum added 22 as theBoston Celtics held on to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 104-102on Wednesday night.

Malcolm Brogdon added 12 points off the bench for Boston, whichovercame a tough shooting night to win for the third time in fourgames.

The Celtics shot 40.5% from the field and were 12 of 40 (30%)from 3-point territory. They remained a game ahead of Philadelphiafor second in the Eastern Conference and closed within 2 1/2 gamesof Milwaukee for first.

Anthony Edwards had 28 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota,which has lost three of four. The Timberwolves started the dayseventh in the West, one game ahead of Oklahoma City, Dallas andthe Los Angeles Lakers.

Kyle Anderson scored 15 for Minnesota and Naz Reid added 15 offthe bench.

Trailing 101-99, Edwards missed a 3 with 32.2 seconds left thatwould have given the Timberwolves their first lead since the firstquarter. Grant Williams collected an offensive rebound for Bostonand won a jump ball after being tied up.

Tatum finished with a pair of free throws to put the game away.Edwards and Anderson were then ejected with 1.7 seconds left afterarguing with officials.

It was a defensive struggle in the first half between two teamsthat started the day in the top-10 in defensive rating in theleague. The Celtics shot 32.6% in the first half and theTimberwolves finished at 36.4%.

PHYSICAL PLAY

The matchup turned testy at times. Brown was assessed atechnical foul in the first half after an altercation withMinnesota’s Rudy Gobert. Brown, who is wearing a mask aftersustaining a facial fracture, seemed to take offense after gettinghit with an elbow from Gobert.

Gobert was given a Flagrant I foul in the second half after hechallenged a dunk from Tatum. Gobert hit Tatum with his hands as heelevated and Tatum fell hard to the court. Officials raised thefoul to flagrant after a review. Moments earlier, Gobert also got atechnical foul for hanging on the rim after a dunk.

TOWNS GETTING CLOSER

The Wolves released an injury update on Karl-Anthony Towns onWednesday and said the big man is expected to return “in the comingweeks” from his right calf strain. Towns, out since Nov. 28, hasstarted basketball activities.

He was averaging 20.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists in 21games before the injury.

TIP-INS

Celtics: Coach Joe Mazzulla said Robert Williams, who missed hissixth straight game with a left hamstring strain, could be back “inthe next week or so.” … Tatum was 0 for 8 on 3s but 14 of 16 fromthe free-throw line. … Boston led by as many as 14 in thethird.

Timberwolves: Austin Rivers missed his third straight game withback spasms. Jaylen Nowell has missed eight games with left kneetendinopathy. … Edwards was 7 of 11 shooting in the first halfwhile the rest of the team was 9 of 33.

UP NEXT

Celtics: Play at Portland on Friday.

Timberwolves: Play at Chicago on Friday.