BOSTON — Al Horford was not the first option on the final shot of the game for the Celtics on Sunday afternoon.
It turned out he was the best option to add another thrilling chapter to a season already brimming with spectacular comebacks.
Down 16 at the half, and by six in the fourth quarter, the Celtics trailed by a point with 4.0 seconds on the clock when the inbounds pass went to Horford. With the Portland Trail Blazers denying the handoff to Jaylen Brown — the first option Celtics coach Brad Stevens drew up in the preceding timeout — Horford said the coach yelled to him: "Keep the ball! Keep the ball! Go score!'"
So Horford took it upon himself to win the game with a walk-off turnaround jumper in a 97-96 victory.
“They stayed tight to (Brown) and once that happened I was just aggressive,” Horford said. “I went into a go-to move. I was like, ‘I’ve got to find a way to score.’ I took my time. That’s a shot that I work on a lot. It felt good that it went in.”
Horford’s buzzer-beater capped a huge day with 22 points, on 8-of-12 shooting, with 10 rebounds, five assists with two blocked shots, all while running the point much of the day with Kyrie Irving (quad bruise) missing his third straight game.
“I think that shot just epitomizes the work he’s been putting in all year,” Brown said. “Al’s been playing really well for us. Not only scoring the ball, but making plays and defending at a really high level. That shot just epitomizes all that and more.
“It’s a lot to ask of him. But he embraces it. He steps up to the challenge. And he does it with class and elegance. That’s why we love Al.”
Jayson Tatum had 17 points and Brown scored 16 points in Boston’s fourth straight win overall and seventh comeback win from down 16 or more this season.
“I am just proud of the group,” said Horford. “We, obviously, have a few guys missing, and guys stepping up for us tonight. Semi (Ojeleye) and (Abdel) Nader — different guys contributing. We stayed with it. We kept defending. I felt like we came out in the third and really established ourselves. (Aron) Baynes was very aggressive attacking, getting some good shots and going to the basket. I just felt like everybody picked it up.”
A Terry Rozier jumper with 13.6 seconds to play was one-upped by a Damian Lillard three-point play with 7.2 seconds to go for a one-point Celtics deficit.
After a foul to give from Portland with the ball in Brown’s hands out of a timeout, the Celtics inbounded the ball with 4.0 seconds left for the final shot.
“We had a play set up, they used their timeout, and then we got it to Al in the middle of the floor,” Stevens said, “which has usually been pretty good for us.”
Playing without Irving, Marcus Morris (sore backside), Marcus Smart (cut hand) and Shane Larkin (knee soreness), the Celtics used an 18-4 run in the third quarter to get within one point before trailing by four heading into the fourth.
Tatum tied it with a driving basket with 9:13 to go, but the Trail Blazers responded with six straight. Consecutive 3-pointers from Ojeleye and Tatum got Boston even again at 85-85 with 3:35 on the clock.
A Horford 3-pointer put Boston up three with 2:52 to go before Ojeleye and Rozier drew consecutive offensive fouls and Tatum hit a jumper for a 90-85 game with 2:01 to play. C.J. McCollum made it a two-point game with a 3-pointer with 1:32 left before Brown drilled a 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock with 1:13 to go.
Lillard responded with a quick 3-pointer and Stevens called a mid-possession timeout with 57.3 seconds on the clock. The Celtics had two chances to extend the lead before Lillard tied the game with 41 seconds to play.
Rozier then hit only his fifth shot in 18 attempts for a 95-93 lead with 13.6 seconds on the clock with a step-back jumper from 19 feet away.
It looked for a few moments like that would be the biggest basket of the day for Boston until Horford topped it in dramatic fashion at the buzzer.