On Wednesday, January 11, Jayson Tatum led the Boston Celtics to a 127-120 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Tatum scored a game-high 45 points, including 12 in overtime, to help the Celtics improve their home record to 18-0.

The Celtics established a new franchise mark for straight home victories at the beginning of a season, which had been previously held by the team that won the 1957–1958 season. Jaylen Brown contributed 35 points and 11 rebounds for the Celtics. Since the 2004-2005 season, Minnesota has done not a single thing to win a game in Boston.

After making a layup with 1:04 remaining in overtime, Tatum gave the Celtics a lead of 122-120. He then stretched the advantage to five points by sinking a three-pointer with 51 seconds remaining in the game. The final score was determined by his making two free throws with 12.7 seconds remaining in the game.

Karl-Anthony Towns contributed 25 points and 13 rebounds to Minnesota’s performance, while Anthony Edwards contributed 29 points to the team’s total. 19 points and 10 rebounds were among Naz Reid’s totals.

Each of the two teams did not have a starting center. As a result of a sore left hip, Rudy Gobert, who plays for Minnesota, did not do so. Gobert is currently performing at a rate of 12.8 points per game and is the leading rebounder for the club with 12.0. In addition, the Timberwolves do not have guard Mike Conley since he was resting.

Having a right knee contusion, Kristaps Porzingis, who plays for Boston, was unable to participate in the game. Porzingis is the third-leading scorer (19.8) and the second-leading rebounder (7.0) for the club. Joe Mazzulla, the coach of the Boston Celtics, has stated that he anticipates Porzingis to play on Thursday against Milwaukee.

After the first quarter, the Celtics held a 32-27 lead, and by the halftime break, they had a 54-53 advantage. After going without a field goal for a period of 6 minutes and 1 second in the second quarter, Boston finally made a three-point shot by Jrue Holiday with 2 minutes and 29 seconds left in the half.

One minute and seventeen seconds into the third quarter, Towns made a layup that gave the Timberwolves their first lead of the game, which was 55-54. Minnesota had a 32-25 advantage over Boston in the first quarter and was leading 85-79 going into the fourth quarter.

The Celtics opened up a 111-109 lead with a three-pointer made by Holiday with 25.2 seconds remaining in the game; however, Edwards converted two free throws with 7.1 seconds remaining to tie the game. Tatum was unable to make a jump shot at the buzzer, which resulted in the game going into overtime.