The Boston Celtics walked into the Target Center looking for a road win against one of the West’s toughest teams. They got the fight they expected. They also got a game that swung wildly from control to collapse, ending in a 119-115 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Boston built a double-digit lead behind sharp shot-making and the early dominance of Neemias Queta, who went right at Rudy Gobert. The Celtics controlled tempo, moved the ball and looked poised to pull away.
Then the game flipped. Anthony Edwards heated up. Mike Conley hit dagger shots. Minnesota closed with poise while Boston’s offense stalled. A 12-0 Celtics run tied the game late, but the Wolves responded with the final punches and sealed it at the line.
It was a missed opportunity for a win Boston needed. But it was also the stage for one of the most impressive individual first halves the Celtics have seen in years.
Brown Delivered a Historic First Half
Jaylen Brown didn’t just start hot. He made history, and delivered a first half that has never been recorded in the play-by-play era. Brown finished the half with 27 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals, becoming the first player on record to hit all four marks before halftime.
It wasn’t just volume. There was control. It was pace. It was shot-making that set the tone for the entire night.
9 of his 11 first-half field goals came from long midrange or beyond the arc. Step-back jumpers fell early. He punished switches. Patience showed when help arrived, as he fed Queta for easy finishes and fired pinpoint passes to Sam Hauser in rhythm.
He even broke out the “too small” gesture after scoring over Edwards. He had that kind of command.
Brown ended the night with 41 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 steals, joining Larry Bird as the only Celtics ever to post a 40-5-5 line with 5 steals.
He was brilliant, but Boston still fell short.
Queta Made Celtics History Too
Brown wasn’t the only Celtic rewriting the stat sheet.
Queta delivered the best game of his Celtics career, finishing with 19 points, 18 rebounds, 2 blocks and a 7-for-8 shooting line. He’s the first Boston player to reach those numbers in a game since Robert Parish in 1989.
He battled Gobert at the rim. Entire possessions swung because of his work on the offensive glass. He ran the floor and stayed active in every defensive rotation. It wasn’t energy off the bench. The impact was real. He won’t get much noise for it, but he’s growing into one of the most improved players in the NBA.
Where the Game Slipped Away for Boston
The Wolves took control in the third. Edwards found his rhythm. Boston’s spacing tightened. Open looks didn’t fall. Mistakes piled up.
The Celtics still fought, storming back late behind Brown and Derrick White. They tied it at 110 on a pull-up three from Brown. But Minnesota had the counters. Conley hit the corner three. And then Ant delivered the knockout punch.
Final Word for the Celtics
The Celtics left Minneapolis with a loss, not the breakthrough performance they hoped for. But they also walked away with two defining individual efforts.
Brown continued to look like a true star in full command of the offense, the kind of form that should have him sitting somewhere in the MVP conversation. Queta looked like a rotation-changing big. The defeat stings, but the film will matter.
Two Celtics made history. The game just didn’t tilt their way.
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