4 takeaways as Celtics beat Pelicans to avoid stunning late collapse

The Celtics overcame another rough shooting night from 3-point range to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 120-119 at TD Garden Sunday night in a near disastrous loss at TD Garden.

CJ McCollum had a chance at a win in the closing seconds of regulation after Boston turned the ball on a 5-second violation with 6.6 seconds left. However, the Pelicans guard missed a floater as time expired, allowing the hosts to hold on after they nearly blew a five-point lead in the final 22 seconds of regulation.

Boston trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half after a slow shooting start (1-of-11 from 3-point range) to go along with some underwhelming defense against a 8-31 Pelicans squad. Boston fought their way back into the game in the second quarter and it was a nip-and-tuck battle the rest of the way as Boston tried to compensate for another tough shooting night by hitting the offensive glass hard.

The Celtics and Pelicans were tied up as late as the 2:48 mark in the fourth quarter but Boston was able to close the door, using a 6-1 run in the next two minutes to take control before nearly allowing the stunning rally.

Jayson Tatum led the way for the Celtics with a game-high 38 points as five different Boston players scored in double figures. Kristaps Porzingis added a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Trey Murphy III had a team-high 30 points for the Pelicans in the setback as New Orleans fell short despite shooting 16 percentage points better than Boston from 3-point range.

Boston improves to 28-11 on the season with the victory and now gets two days off before facing off against the Toronto Raptors on the road Wednesday night.

Here are four Celtics takeaways from Sunday’s game:

Dejounte Murray goes nuts early but comes back to earth: The Pelicans offseason trade addition has underwhelmed in his new home all year but played some of his best basketball early on Sunday night. The scoring guard erupted for 17 first half points, including making his first five 3-point attempts in the frame. That was a career-high for him in a quarter and a season-high for 3-point makes in a game. Considering he was shooting just 26 percent from 3-point range this year, the Celtics gambled that he wouldn’t be able to hit those looks and it led to a double digit deficit in the first quarter. Murray missed eight straight shots after the red-hot start and finished with 26 points on 8-of-19 shooting

Joe Mazzulla tinkers with the rotation: The Celtics played their usual nine-man rotation but it appears Mazzulla is doing some experimenting amid Boston’s up-and-down play of late. Mazzulla adjusted Sam Hauser’s playing time, going with him for just three minutes at the start of the second quarter instead of his longer stint which usually includes the first quarter. Jaylen Brown also got extended time with the entire second unit and Derrick White, making the most of those minutes early, going plus-10 in the first half of the second quarter with that unit. Some of those decisions may have been matchup based but it was an interesting choice by Mazzulla to mix it up after another rough start from the starting five.

Celtics 3-point shooting woes continue: Boston has been in a freefall in their 3-point accuracy numbers of late and that trend continued yet again in this one. The team opened the game just 1-of-11 from 3-point range and recovered somewhat as the half continued but still posted an ugly 8-of-27 mark (29.6 percent in the first half). Porzingis continues to be on the upswing from 3-point range but Jaylen Brown and Derrick White remain in slumps from the perimeter this month. The Celtics shot 29.5 percent from 3-point range on the night, going 13-of-44 from downtown.