October 28, 2026 at 5:17 AM UTC

Postgame Report

Tatum's buzzer-beater in overtime lifts Celtics past Nets 125-124

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Jayson Tatum scored 40 points and hit a turnaround jumper as time expired in overtime, after Mikel Brown Jr. forced the extra period with a 3-pointer with one second left in regulation.

Jayson Tatum hit a turnaround jumper at the overtime buzzer, and the Boston Celtics beat the Brooklyn Nets 125-124 on Tuesday night at TD Garden.

Tatum finished with 40 points, eight assists and no turnovers in 42 minutes, on the second night of a back-to-back. He made 10 of 20 shots and 18 of 22 free throws. The win was Boston's third straight and left the Nets 0-4.

Brooklyn led late in both regulation and overtime. The Nets led 124-119 with two minutes left in overtime after rookie Mikel Brown Jr. made a 32-foot pull-up 3-pointer. They did not score again. Tatum made two free throws, Paul George made two more with 1:02 left, and Brooklyn missed its last five shots, all of them by Brown. At the other end, Noah Clowney blocked a Tatum drive with 28 seconds left that would have put Boston ahead.

Brown had two chances to win it in the final seconds. He missed a driving layup with 6.1 seconds left, and after a Celtics foul gave Brooklyn the ball back, he missed a cutting layup with 2.3 seconds left. George grabbed the rebound and Boston called timeout. Out of the timeout, Tatum made a 17-foot turnaround jumper as time expired. Derrick White had the assist. The basket stood after a review.

Regulation ended almost as wildly. Brooklyn led 109-104 with 2:57 left, but Boston scored 12 of the next 14 points. Tatum tied the game at 109 with a driving layup, White made two free throws, and after Brown tied it again, White scored on a cutting dunk off a Tatum pass and finished the three-point play with 33.7 seconds left. White made two more free throws to put Boston up 116-111 with 13.3 seconds left.

The Nets kept coming. Brown made two free throws, Julius Randle made one of two, and Mitchell Robinson missed two free throws with three seconds left. Moritz Wagner grabbed the second miss, and after a timeout, Brown made a 24-foot 3-pointer with one second left to tie it at 117.

It was close all night. There were 10 lead changes and 15 ties, and neither team led by more than eight. Brooklyn led 61-56 at halftime. Boston won the third quarter 30-21 to go up 86-82, and the Nets answered in the fourth with a 12-2 run that put them ahead 102-99.

Michael Porter Jr. led Brooklyn with 27 points and 12 rebounds and made six 3-pointers. Randle had 24 points and nine rebounds in a game-high 44 minutes, and Brown scored 17 off the bench, 13 of them in the last 5½ minutes of regulation and overtime. Nolan Traore, Wagner and Chaney Johnson each scored 15. The Nets made 17 3-pointers to Boston's 11, but the Celtics went to the free-throw line 38 times to Brooklyn's 22.

George added 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for Boston. White had 16 points and seven assists, and Jordan Walsh scored 15.

Boston has won three in a row since losing its opener in Detroit. Brooklyn has lost to Charlotte, Cleveland, Indiana and Boston, and two of those losses were by four points or fewer.

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