Kemba Walker scored 27 points, and the Boston Celtics beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 112-111 for their seventh straight win.
Marcus Smart’s 3-pointer put the Celtics ahead for good with 8:19 left in the fourth quarter.
The Thunder had the ball down 3 with 11 seconds left, but Smart stole the ball from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. A 3-pointer would have tied the game.
During clutch time, the Celtics outscored the Thunder 10-6. Walker scored 8 of the Celtics’ 10 on 2 for 2 shooting and 2 for 4 at the line. In the fourth quarter, Smart had 2 of his 4 steals, one of them leading to Jayson Tatum’s driving dunk that put the Celtics ahead 90-88, and the Celtics scored 3 points off them.
Tatum had 26 points and 11 rebounds, and Daniel Theis added 13 points (8 in the paint) and 11 rebounds.
For the Thunder, Gilgeous-Alexander scored 24 points on 8 for 12 shooting, and Danilo Gallinari added 24 points. Chris Paul scored 22 points (11 in the fourth quarter). Dennis Schröder scored 22 points off the bench. The Thunder had 4 20-point scorers.
The Celtics outscored the Thunder 21-7 off turnovers.