The Celtics escaped Brooklyn with a stunning victory Friday night thanks to Jaylen Brown, Payton Pritchard and clutch plays by a pair of 2025 draft picks.

Rookie Hugo Gonzalez drilled a game-tying 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds remaining in overtime, and Boston pulled away in the second OT to defeat the Nets 130-126 at the Barclays Center.

HE'S ONLY 19 pic.twitter.com/WxSL4GnBRK

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 24, 2026

Brown played 46 minutes in the dramatic victory and registered a 27-point, 12-assist, 10-rebound triple-double. Pritchard scored a game-high 32 points on 13-of-24 shooting, with 25 of those coming in the second half and overtime. Sam Hauser continued his stretch of sizzling shooting with 19 points on 7-of-12 (5-of-10 from 3-point range).

That veteran trio scored nine of Boston’s 12 points in the second extra period, carrying a Celtics squad that was playing without starting guard Derrick White (rest). The other three came from rookie center Amari Williams, a two-way player who’s spent most of the season in the G League.

Only in the game because primary big men Neemias Queta and Luka Garza had both fouled out, Williams converted an and-one layup off a feed from Pritchard, then rejected a shot from fellow rookie Nolan Traore with 40.6 seconds remaining and Boston up four.

“Guys just made unbelievable plays,” Pritchard told NBC Sports Boston sideline reporter Abby Chin after the game. “Amari comes in, he ain’t played much this year, and big rebounds, a big and-one, a blocked shot. It takes a team, man. Everybody’s stepping up, and tonight, we needed it.”

The Celtics prevailed despite being outscored 29-10 at the free-throw line — Brooklyn attempted 34 foul shots to Boston’s 16 — and finishing on the wrong end of a 58-41 rebounding margin. They committed just eight turnovers and put up 14 more field-goal attempts than the rebuilding Nets, who have lost 12 of their last 14 games.

The win came on the front end of what’s sure to be a tiring back-to-back for the 28-16 Celtics, who visit the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night (8 p.m. ET).

With White sitting, head coach Joe Mazzulla gave second-year pro Baylor Scheierman his third start of the season, opting again to keep Anfernee Simons in his usual role as a sixth man. Queta was a late addition to Boston’s injury report (listed as questionable with an illness) but was cleared to play before tipoff.

The Celtics jumped out to an 11-3 lead thanks to two early 3-pointers from Hauser and one from Scheierman. But the Nets, who were coming off a 54-point blowout loss to the crosstown New York Knicks, responded with a 12-2 run, then led for much of the opening quarter.

A deep three by Michael Porter Jr. (30 points) that made it 21-19 Nets triggered a Celtics timeout and a surprise Mazzulla substitution. The head coach inserted Ron Harper Jr., a two-way player whose only non-garbage-time minutes this season had come with the Maine Celtics. Harper logged seven minutes across two shifts, blocking one shot.

Brooklyn controlled play in the second quarter, capitalizing on frequent transition opportunities and pressuring Boston into an ugly display of inside-the-arc shooting. Though the Celtics were shooting 50% from 3-point range late in the first half — including two more makes from the red-hot Hauser — they missed 11 consecutive 2-pointers, three of which were blocked.

Brown started 2-for-11 from the field before closing the half with a 3-pointer and a driving layup — his first field-goal attempt of the game from inside 9 feet. Those were part of a 7-2 Celtics run sparked by Queta, who had one block, one steal, three offensive rebounds and three drawn fouls in the second quarter alone. Boston trailed 55-49 at halftime.

The Celtics began attacking the rim much more effectively in the third quarter, going 6-for-6 inside the restricted area. Pritchard provided two of those makes, including one he converted through traffic after swooping in to corral a deflected Simons pass. Seconds later, Gonzalez picked Cam Thomas’ pocket and scored at the other end to give Boston its first lead since early in the second quarter, 74-73.

Gonzalez’s fast-break finish began a stretch of 12 straight points scored by Celtics bench players. A Jordan Walsh 3-pointer early in the fourth tied the game at 81-81. A finish through contact from Garza made it 84-84.

Hauser, who owns the best net rating of any Celtics player since rejoining the starting five on Jan. 3, added a layup and a rare midrange jumper on back-to-back possessions, followed by a Simons floater that put Boston ahead 90-88.

Porter responded with a go-ahead 3-pointer, but the Celtics took over from there, launching into an 11-0 run that put them up by double digits. Brown had a hand in all four Boston field goals during that surge, assisting on three of them by exploiting Brooklyn double-teams.

“Poise,” Mazzulla told reporters. “The guys in particular played with a level of effort and physicality for most of the game, but I thought Jaylen played with a sense of poise, especially in the second half. … We were able to use him sometimes throughout the game as a decoy. Drag a double and play some 2-on-1s. To be able to do that takes a ton of poise, takes a ton of discipline, and he was able to do that today.”

But Boston’s lead did not hold. The Nets rallied in the final three minutes of regulation. After Queta — one of the Celtics’ top rim protectors along with White — fouled out with 1:50 remaining, Brooklyn notched a layup, a drawn foul on an offensive rebound and back-to-back putback dunks by Nic Claxton on consecutive possessions. Claxton’s second, which came after Simons missed one of two free throws, knotted the score at 104-104 with 1.9 seconds to play.

Garza then fouled out two minutes into overtime, leaving Boston without its top two centers. The 6-foot-6 Gonzalez checked in for Garza and provided a spark, following up a Pritchard three with a tip-in that made it 112-108. The Celtics proceeded to miss their next four shots, however, and Noah Clowney put the Nets ahead with a transition 3-pointer with 41.6 seconds to go.

Down 117-112 with less than five seconds remaining, Boston got another triple from Pritchard and a gift from Traore, who missed a foul shot that would have put the game away. Given one final chance to tie, Mazzulla sent Gonzalez back in as a late sub, and the 19-year-old buried one from the left corner to force a second OT.

“We had Amari out there just in case they matched up in a certain coverage, and it looked like they were going with something different,” Mazzulla told reporters. “So we just wanted to get Hugo out there, and Hugo made a great play. It’s a credit to him. He’s always ready, and he made a good play.”

“It shows (Mazzulla’s) character,” Pritchard told Chin. “He trusts anybody on that front. For Hugo to come in and get that shot down, it’s impressive.”

Gonzalez hit all four shots he took in his 19 minutes, finishing with 10 points, seven rebounds, one steal and one block.

Williams, whose NBA impact has been far smaller than that of the consistently impressive Gonzalez, played the entire second overtime.

The 7-foot Kentucky product held up well on the glass, helping limit the Nets to one offensive rebound after they grabbed 12 between the fourth quarter and first OT. The basket he made that put the Celtics ahead 123-120 was just the second of his NBA career.

“For Amari to be able to sit through the entire game and be ready and execute some of the plays that we’ve gone over in practice, it’s a credit to him and the coaching staff,” Mazzulla told reporters. “Those are the guys that work with him, getting him ready to go, and say the same thing for Hugo’s mindset. Those guys made big plays, and the (player development) staff gets those guys ready to go every day.”

Had Queta not been under the weather Friday afternoon, Williams likely would not have been available as a crunch-time fill-in. He told reporters after the game that he participated in Maine’s morning shootaround before getting a late call from the big club and catching a commercial flight to New York City.