NBA

Boston Celtics at New Orleans Pelicans

· National Basketball Association
34-15, 18-6 Away
Final
118 - 116

12-37, 8-18 Home

Tatum's jumper gives Celtics a 118-116 victory over the short-handed Pelicans

Jayson Tatum sinks last-second shot to win it for Celtics

Jaylen Brown scored 28 points and Tatum had 27 as the Celtics handed the Pelicans their fifth straight loss. New Orleans lost Dejounte Murray to a lower right leg injury in the first quarter.

Tatum had 22 points through three quarters before being held in check for much of the fourth. But the Celtics went to him after CJ McCollum's tying basket with 24 seconds left and he hit the eventual winner over McCollum from the left wing.

Trey Murphy had a season-high 40 points, going 8 for 12 on 3-pointers. Jose Alvarado added 20 points and McCollum had 17.

Luke Kornet and Kristaps Porzingis scored 13 of the Celtics’ first 17 points of the fourth quarter to build a 108-101 lead. Porzingis and Derrick White each had 16 points.

Takeaways Celtics: The Celtics had 32 assists on 42 made field goals. Porzingis had four blocks.

Pelicans: Murray, who had averaged 17.9 points, 6.5 rebounds and 7.6 assists since returning from an early season broken hand that caused him to miss 18 games, fell to the court in the first quarter with a non-contact injury to his lower right leg. He was carried into the locker room. … Zion Williamson sat out with a stomach bug. He has missed 36 of 49 games this season.

Key moment McCollum threw up a 35-foot hook shot at the buzzer that fell short.

Key stat McCollum continued his poor outside shooting, going 1 of 7 from long range. He is 7 of 27 from 3 over the last four games.

Up next The Celtics play in Philadelphia on Sunday night. The Pelicans open a four-game road trip Monday night against the Nuggets.

Regular Season Series

BOS wins series 2-0

Recent Plays

4th 0.0 End of Game 118 - 116
4th 0.0 End of the 4th Quarter 118 - 116
4th 0.0 Luke Kornet enters the game for Derrick White 118 - 116
4th 0.0 Kristaps Porzingis enters the game for Jaylen Brown 118 - 116
4th 0.0 Brandon Boston enters the game for Yves Missi 118 - 116

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/bos.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originBOS https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/no.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originNO
42-84 FG 44-90
50 Field Goal % 49
16-41 3PT 15-37
39 Three Point % 41
18-26 FT 13-19
69 Free Throw % 68
35 Rebounds 48
5 Offensive Rebounds 10
30 Defensive Rebounds 38
32 Assists 16
12 Steals 7
7 Blocks 2
13 Turnovers 18
0 Team Turnovers 2
13 Total Turnovers 20
1 Technical Fouls 0
1 Total Technical Fouls 0
0 Flagrant Fouls 0
9 Points Conceded Off Turnovers 26
19 Fast Break Points 14
44 Points in Paint 50
16 Fouls 21
9 Largest Lead 6
New Orleans Pelicans New Orleans Pelicans Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Jordan Poole, G Day-To-Day Dec 25
Herbert Jones, F Out Dec 25
Dejounte Murray, G Out Sep 25
Boston Celtics Boston Celtics Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Jordan Walsh, G Day-To-Day Dec 25
Chris Boucher, F Out Dec 25
Jayson Tatum, F Out Oct 9

Game Information

Smoothie King Center

Location: New Orleans, LA
Attendance: 16,432 · Capacity:

2025-26 Atlantic Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
New York 21 9 .700 - W1
Boston 18 11 .621 2.5 W3
Toronto 18 13 .581 3.5 W1
Philadelphia 16 12 .571 4 L1
Brooklyn 9 19 .321 11 W2

2025-26 Southwest Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
San Antonio 23 7 .767 - W8
Houston 17 10 .630 4.5 L2
Memphis 14 16 .467 9 W1
Dallas 12 19 .387 11.5 W1
New Orleans 8 23 .258 15.5 L1
Full Standings

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