BOSTON — On a night when the Celtics were primed for a letdown, it was the Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart who lifted them up off the bench.
Fresh off the statement victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday, a day stuck inside due to the blizzard Thursday, and with the London trip looming next week, Friday night’s contest against the Minnesota Timberwolves was a trap game for the Celtics. They appeared well on their way to getting stuck in that trap deep into second half when Rozier and Smart yanked them out of it on their way to a 91-84 victory.
The duo was key to a 16-5 run late in the third that turned a seven-point deficit into a four-point lead heading to the fourth, before helping push the gap to 12 early in the final quarter, as the Celtics took control and never relented in their fifth straight triumph.
Smart had a team-high 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting, while Rozier had his career-best sixth straight double-digit scoring game off the bench with 14 points to go with nine rebounds.
Kyrie Irving threatened a triple-double with 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, while Aron Baynes had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds for Boston.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 25 points and 23 rebounds for Minnesota. But he had little help with Jimmy Butler held to 14 points on 3-of-12 shooting and the Timberwolves stuck at a paltry 37 percent shooting night overall.
Up 66-62 entering the fourth, Baynes hit back-to-back baskets for a 70-65 lead with 10:50 to go. Drives from Rozier and Smart made it 74-67 with 8:42 to play before Rozier answered a pair of Butler free throws with a third-chance 3-pointer and 77-68 gap with 8:00 to play.
Irving scored four points sandwiched around a Towns 3-pointer had the Celtics up 81-71 with 6:57 to go. It was an eight-point game when Irving kept a rebound alive and the ball found Baynes for a slam. Smart’s steal and free throws had the Celtics up 85-73 when Minnesota ran off three in a row for an eight-point game in a timeout with 4:03 on the clock.
Irving then scored out of the pause and the Celtics held the Timberwolves off the board all the way through a Jayson Tatum for an 89-78 lead with 1:54 to go as the Celtics improved to 32-10 on the season.
Both teams had a tough time warming up on the frigid Boston night as the Celtics shot just 39.1 percent in the first half and the Timberwolves shot 32.6 percent. The squads were a combined 19.2 percent (5-for-26) on 3-pointers in the first 24 minutes.
There were 10 ties and 11 lead changes in the half with the biggest lead on either side a five-point Boston edge in the opening minutes.
The Celtics were down two with 2:23 left in the half when Guerschon Yabusele delivered a put-back and Brown hit a 3-pointer for a 38-35 lead. The Timberwolves knotted it with 58.0 seconds to go before a Smart basket and Irving free throw after he was fouled with 1.1 seconds remaining had Boston up 41-38 at the half.
The Timberwolves went up as many as seven in the second half before Smart and Rozier got the Celtics jumpstarted off the bench. A pair of Smart baskets and a Brown 3-pointer made it a 9-2 run for a 57-57 game with 2:38 left in the third.
After a Jamal Crawford 3-pointer, two Horford baskets and a nifty Rozier drive pushed the run to 16-5 overall as the Celtics went up 64-30. The Timberwolves got two back from Taj Gibson at the line before Irving scored with 1.6 seconds left in the quarter for a 66-62 lead heading to the fourth.