Anfernee Simons poured in 18 of his season-high 39 points in the fourth quarter, Jaylen Brown added 27, and the Boston Celtics stormed back late to beat the Miami Heat 119-114 on Thursday night.
Boston trailed for most of the game and by as many as 19 points early, but outscored Miami 36-21 in the fourth quarter to complete its second-largest comeback of the season. The Celtics previously rallied from 20 down to beat Indiana on Dec. 22.
Sam Hauser finished with 17 points for Boston, which didn’t take its first lead after the opening minute until Hauser drilled an open 3-pointer with 5:21 remaining. The advantage changed hands twice more before Brown buried a 3 with 4:05 left to put the Celtics ahead for good.
Simons delivered one of the best performances by a reserve this season, recording the second-highest scoring game off the bench in the NBA in 2024-25. He also became just the fourth Celtics player in the last 50 years to score at least 39 points as a reserve, joining Larry Bird, Todd Day and Payton Pritchard. Simons scored 11 straight Boston points in the fourth quarter to fuel the rally.
Miami was led by Norman Powell’s 26 points, while Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro each scored 22. Andrew Wiggins added 16 for the Heat, who were shorthanded without starting point guard Davion Mitchell (left shoulder contusion) and sixth man Jaime Jaquez Jr. (left knee soreness).
The Heat jumped out to a 28-9 lead, putting Boston in an unfamiliar early hole. The 19-point deficit roughly seven minutes into the game matched the largest first-quarter hole the Celtics have faced in a 304-game span, dating back to December 2022.
Up next:
Boston heads to Atlanta on Saturday night, while Miami returns home to host Oklahoma City on Saturday.
