Minnesota Blows Open 4th to Stun Boston in TD Garden

Minnesota owns the fourth and walks out of Boston with a statement win

Boston had the building buzzing early, Jaylen Brown attacked downhill and Jayson Tatum controlled the glass, but Minnesota never let the game get away. The Celtics sprinted out to a 23-14 lead after the first quarter and even pushed the margin to 15 at one point, yet the Wolves kept answering with clean offense and enough pressure to keep the night uncomfortable. By halftime, Boston’s lead had been trimmed to 47-44, and by the end of the third quarter it was dead even in spirit and nearly dead even on the scoreboard — Boston nudging ahead 77-76 after three.

That’s when the game started to flip. Brown, who finished with 29 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, kept Boston afloat with shot-making and rim pressure, including a driving layup that fueled a 12-0 Celtics burst in the third to flip a 44-47 deficit into a 55-47 advantage. He was the game’s most reliable half-court scorer for long stretches, and his 35 minutes had the look of a player trying to put his imprint on a game that kept slipping sideways. Tatum added a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double and was active defensively late with a steal at 3:47 in the fourth, but Boston never found the closing punch to separate once Minnesota started landing body shots.

The Wolves’ response came from all over. Bones Hyland delivered one of the night’s loudest scoring bursts off the bench, pouring in 23 points with 3 rebounds and 3 assists in just 29 minutes. He gave Minnesota instant offense when the half-court game bogged down, and his scoring helped keep the Celtics from extending their early control. Julius Randle did not stuff the box score with gaudy volume, but his fingerprints were all over the finish. Minnesota’s decisive 17-0 run in the fourth begins with the score at 81-78 and ends at 94-81, punctuated by Randle’s free throw that extended the surge and then his running dunk at 1:45 left, assisted by J. McDaniels, which effectively slammed the door. That burst was the game’s turning point — a tight road battle suddenly turned into a comfortable finish.

Minnesota’s closing defense was just as important as the scoring run. The final five minutes featured a nasty sequence of stops: Tatum’s steal at 3:47, Nickeil Reid’s block at 3:05, J. McDaniels’ steal at 3:03, and then later A. Dosunmu’s block at 1:25. Those possessions stripped Boston of any chance to mount a counterpunch. A. Dosunmu also chipped in with a driving layup at 1:57 to push the margin to 100-86, and C. Bassey added a late steal-and-score sequence in the final minute to finish things off. Minnesota didn’t just outscore Boston in the fourth; it choked out the Celtics possession by possession.

There were still bright spots for Boston beyond Brown and Tatum. The Celtics got early juice from B. Scheierman’s running three during the first-quarter 10-0 burst that turned a 19-14 edge into a 29-14 cushion, and they looked for a while like a team ready to leverage home momentum into a comfortable night. Instead, the Wolves leaned on balance, pressure, and the bench scoring punch from Hyland to keep the game within striking distance until the late knockout. Rudy Gobert’s 9 points, 14 rebounds and 4 blocks also mattered on the margins, especially as Minnesota protected the paint and made Boston work for clean second-chance looks.

For Minnesota, this is the kind of road win that can travel in April: survive the early punch, win the middle minutes, and then take over late with defense and shot-making. For Boston, the tape shows a lead that never fully turned into control, and a fourth quarter where the offense went flat just as the Wolves started making every possession feel heavier. If these teams meet again, Minnesota will like the formula — stay close, trust the bench, and let the fourth quarter become a grind Boston couldn’t win.