By ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON (AP) — Jaylen Brown scored the Celtics’ first 15 points on five consecutive 3-pointers and finished with 29 points, before Boston withstood a late charge to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 107-105, on Sunday, Nov. 24.
Jayson Tatum added 26 points and eight rebounds to help Boston post a season-high fifth straight victory.
Anthony Edwards had 28 points and nine rebounds for Minnesota, which has lost five of its last seven.
Julius Randle added 23 points, and Rudy Gobert finished with 10 points and 20 rebounds, his eighth double-double of the season.
Minnesota got within 55-54 early in the third quarter, before a 14-0 run by Boston. The spurt featured four 3s by the Celtics, including two by Tatum. The lead grew to 79-60 with 4:26 to play in the period.
But the Timberwolves chipped it all the way down in the fourth, getting within 107-105 with 34 seconds left on a driving layup by Randle.
Meanwhile in Miami, Jimmy Butler scored a season-high 33 points, leading the Heat past the Dallas Mavericks, 123-118, in overtime.
Bam Adebayo had 19 points and 11 rebounds, Tyler Herro had 18 points and 10 rebounds, Alec Burks scored 15 and Pelle Larsson added 14 for Miami.
Kyrie Irving had 14 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter for Dallas, which had its four-game winning streak snapped. P.J. Washington scored 21, Naji Marshall had 20, Klay Thompson scored 15 and Dereck Lively II had 14 points and 13 rebounds for Dallas.
The Mavericks played without Luka Doncic, still sidelined with a sprained right wrist. The Heat were without Terry Rozier, who was expected to play but wound up being scratched with a recurrence of right foot discomfort.
In Cleveland, Donovan Mitchell and Ty Jerome scored 26 points apiece as the Cavaliers improved to 17-1 and stayed perfect at home with a 122-108 win over the Toronto Raptors.
The Cavs, who opened the season 15-0 before losing at Boston last week, are 10-0 on their home floor for the first since the 2017-18 season, when they won their first 13 games at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Jarrett Allen had 23 points and 13 rebounds for Cleveland. Evan Mobley added 14 and 11.
Scottie Barnes and Gradey Dick had 18 points apiece for the Raptors, now 0-8 on the road.
RJ Barrett added 16 points and Jakob Poeltl had 18 rebounds for Toronto. Barrett was playing his second game after missing 11 straight with a fractured orbital bone.
Earlier in Sacramento, Cam Thomas scored 34 points and the Brooklyn Nets beat the Kings, 108-103, in Nets coach Jordi Fernandez’s return to Sacramento.
Fernandez served as the Kings’ associate coach the last two seasons under his mentor, Sacramento coach Mike Brown.
In Indianapolis, Pascal Siakam scored 22 points, Tyrese Haliburton had 21 points and nine assists, and the Indiana Pacers snapped a three-game losing streak with a 115-103 victory over the Washington Wizards.
Rookie Alexandre Sarr and Bilal Coulibaly each had 17 for the Wizards, who have now lost 11 in a row and have the NBA’s worst record at 2-13. Sarr also had a game-high 14 rebounds.
Bennedict Mathurin had 16 points, Moses Brown 15 and T.J. McConnell 12 for the Pacers.
