Anfernee Simons lit the fuse, and the Boston Celtics exploded in the fourth quarter.
Simons dropped a season-high 39 points - 18 of them in the final frame - as the Celtics stormed back from a 19-point hole to edge out the Miami Heat, 119-114, on Thursday night. It was Boston’s second-largest comeback win of the season, and it didn’t come easy.
For most of the night, it looked like the Celtics were stuck in neutral. Miami came out swinging, opening the game on a blistering 28-9 run.
That early 19-point deficit? It matched the biggest first-quarter hole Boston’s faced in nearly two years.
The Heat were rolling, the crowd was buzzing, and the Celtics were searching for answers.
But then came Simons.
Coming off the bench, he delivered a performance that put him in rare company. His 39-point outburst was the second-highest scoring game by a reserve this season - only Utah’s Brice Sensabaugh has scored more off the bench, with 43 just the night before. And in Celtics history, Simons now joins an exclusive list of bench players to reach that 39-point mark in the last 50 years: Larry Bird, Todd Day, and Payton Pritchard.
Simons was surgical in the fourth quarter. At one point, he scored 11 straight points for Boston, single-handedly slicing into Miami’s lead. Then, with just over five minutes left, Sam Hauser - who added 17 points on the night - drained a wide-open three to give the Celtics their first lead since the opening minute.
That shot flipped the momentum, and from there, it was a dogfight. The lead changed hands a couple more times before Jaylen Brown, who finished with 27 points, buried a clutch three with 4:05 remaining to put Boston ahead for good.
It was a gutsy win for a Celtics team that looked out of sync early. But when it mattered most, they locked in - outscoring Miami 36-21 in the fourth quarter and showing the kind of resilience that championship contenders are built on.
On the other side, the Heat got strong performances from Norman Powell (26 points), Bam Adebayo (22), and Tyler Herro (22). Andrew Wiggins chipped in 16, but it wasn’t enough to hold off Boston’s late surge. Miami was also without starting point guard Davion Mitchell (left shoulder contusion) and key reserve Jaime Jaquez Jr. (left knee soreness), which didn’t help their depth down the stretch.
Still, the Heat had this one in their grasp. But Boston - behind Simons’ spark, Brown’s late-game poise, and Hauser’s timely shooting - found a way to flip the script.
Up Next:
- Celtics head to Atlanta for a Saturday night matchup.
- Heat return home to host Oklahoma City, also on Saturday night.
If Simons keeps this up, Boston’s bench just became a whole lot more dangerous.