The Celtics found themselves in a dog fight at the Barclays Center on Friday night, playing their first overtime and their first double overtime of the season. After not playing all of regulation and only 5 seconds in overtime, Amari Williams played the entire 2nd overtime and made a lot of plays as Boston beat Brooklyn 130-126.
Not before after being left for dead, Hugo Gonzalez hit a game tying three to force double overtime.
Hugo González. CLUTCH. Hits the triple to send the game to DOUBLE OVERTIME
🤯 pic.twitter.com/lszFiZIoiC
— NBA (@NBA) January 24, 2026
Derrick White joined Jayson Tatum and Josh Minott on the inactive list, it was a rest night for him (we don’t see the Celtics mark someone as missing a game for rest really ever so I found that mildly interesting). In his place, Baylor Scheierman got his third start of the season with Payton Pritchard, Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser and Neemias Queta. Haywood Highsmith has yet to play in a game for Brooklyn this season and that did not change on Friday. The Nets started Egor Demin, Drake Powell, Michael Porter Jr., Noah Clowney and Nic Claxton.
The Celtics got off to a fast 8-0 start but that lead vanished quickly as the Nets went on a 14-5 run to take a 14-13 lead in the first quarter. Sam Hauser’s hot streak continued early in the game as he made 2 of his first 3 shots.
We had Ron Harper Jr. first quarter minutes! Entering the game on Friday, Harper, older brother to the number 2 pick Dylan Harper and son to former Bulls guard Ron Harper, had played 28 minutes on the season entering Friday night.
The first quarter ended in a deadlock at 28 points. Jaylen Brown led the team with 7 points, though he went 2/7 in the quarter, while Luka Garza had 5 points off of the bench.
The 2nd quarter was a frustrating one for the Celtics. Boston had too many turnovers, was not sharp enough on defense and were not quick enough getting back in transition, leading to a lot of good Brooklyn looks.
The Celtics closed the quarter well, cutting what was an 11 point lead to 6 as Brooklyn led Boston, 55-49 at the half. Jaylen Brown and Sam Hauser led the team in scoring with 12 points.
The third quarter was back and forth and much like the first half the three point shot kept Boston in it. The Celtics were able to take a lead with 2:32 left in the quarter thanks to Payton Pritchard making shots and a Hugo Gonzalez ‘pick six’ with the steal and layup.
Brooklyn did end up retaking the lead, 81-78 at the end of the third quarter. Pritchard led the team with 19 points to go along with 3 assists. 12 of his 19 points came in the third quarter.
The 4th quarter was much like the rest of the game, back and fourth. However, what the rest of the game didn’t have was a big time Luka Garza rejection.
What has gotten into Garza 🤣🤣🤣
— Bobby Manning (@RealBobManning) January 24, 2026
Tatum is loving it. https://t.co/oUBpXYHWKA pic.twitter.com/szK06NFgnN
That Garza block made me laugh out loud
— Sam LaFrance (@SamLaFranceNBA) January 24, 2026
As the 4th quarter progressed, the Celtics put together an 11-0 run to give them their largest lead of the night at 10 points with 3:05 left in the game capped off by a Payton Pritchard three. Derrick White was a big fan of it.
Payton Pritchard has 22 points and Derrick White, who is resting tonight, loves what he sees pic.twitter.com/Q5r6jQHOal
— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzell) January 24, 2026
The Celtics could not put the Nets away as Brooklyn stuck around and had it at a one possession game with under a minute to go after Noah Clowney made a pair of free throws.
Sam Hauser had a chance to put the Nets away with a three but he missed it and a Nic Claxton put back made it a one point game.
Anfernee Simons went to the line with 11 seconds left, he split the pair to make it a 2 point game.
Michael Porter Jr. missed a go ahead three but a Nic Claxton put back tied the game at 104 a side with 1.9 seconds left. Offensive rebounds costed the Celtics again.
Make it six straight points off offensive rebounds for the Nets. Claxton ties the game with a putback dunk.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) January 24, 2026
Celtics will have the ball with 1.9 seconds to get up a potential game-winner. https://t.co/ssF61PnQLD
The Celtics possession was a mess as we had overtime in Brooklyn.
Luka Garza picked up three fouls in the first 2 minutes of overtime and fouled out of the game. That was less than ideal because the Celtics already could not get a rebound. Brooklyn was also in the bonus 2 minutes into the period.
Then, the Celtics took a 4 point lead and had a chance to take it to 7 but then the Nets got a lob dunk and a three and took the lead.
Payton Pritchard had a look to take the lead and Jaylen Brown had a look to tie the game. They both missed as the Nets took a 5 point lead.
Pritchard then hit a three to make it a 2 point game. Nolan Traore went 1/2 from the line so the Celtics had the ball down 3 and a chance to tie with 2.5 seconds left.
Brooklyn had a lapse in their coverage and left Hugo Gonzalez wide open from three and he drilled it to tie the game at 118 as we headed to double overtime.
Double overtime was all over the place. Everyone was tired and Amari Williams, who did not play until the last minute of overtime, played the entire period. He had an and-1 which was fun.
Amari! pic.twitter.com/DIMzw1EZY7
— Pull up shoot (@NElGHT_) January 24, 2026
The Celtics were up 4 with 44.2 to go in the game, when Williams had the game sealing block because of course he did.
OMG. Look at my rookie pic.twitter.com/zvv6Q1W58Z
— Pull up shoot (@NElGHT_) January 24, 2026
Boston survived and won the game 130-126. Pritchard led the team with 32 points while Brown had 27 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds, his 2nd triple-double of the season.
The Celtics shot 45% from the field and 43% from three, hitting 22 threes. The Nets shot 44% from the field and 29% from three. Boston’s next game is Saturday (yes, tomorrow) in Chicago at 8 EST as the Bulls retire Derrick Rose’s jersey.
