SportyTV | Celtics have historic shooting performance; Thunder win in OT in SGA's return

The Boston Celtics have a storied NBA history, but their showing in Friday's148-111 win over the Brooklyn Nets was one for the record books.

The Celtics shot 66.7 per cent (52 of 78) from the field for the second-best shooting performance in franchise history, trailing only the 67.9 percent they shot in a 135-91 win over the Golden State Warriors on November 21, 1984.

Boston also shot 64.7 per cent on 3-pointers (22 of 34) – the best mark in franchise history in a game in which the team attempted at least 25 shots from beyond the arc.

In all, the Celtics' 80.8 per cent effective field goal percentage was the highest by any NBA team in the shot clock era (1954-55).

A trio of Celtics were efficient and extraordinary in their home win!

Jaylen Brown: 28p (9-12 FGM), 7r, 9a, 2s
Nikola Vučević: 28p (9-13 FGM), 11r, 4a
Payton Pritchard: 22p (9-12 FGM), 5a

Boston had an 80.8 eFG%, the highest in a single game in the shot clock era (1954-55) pic.twitter.com/Z2pE6FQ9pc
— NBA (@NBA) February 28, 2026

Jaylen Brown had 28 points on 9-of-12 shooting, along with nine assists and seven rebounds for Boston (39-20), which scored its most points since a 155-104 win over the Indiana Pacers on November 1, 2023.

Nikola Vucevic had 28 points and 11 rebounds off the bench and fellow reserve Payton Pritchard added 22 points as the Celtics got a season-high 77 bench points.

Boston won for the fifth time in six games, while Brooklyn lost its seventh in a row.

Michael Porter Jr. led the Nets (15-44) with 18 points as Brooklyn fell to 1-15 in road games since the calendar flipped to 2026.

Thunder get by Nuggets in OT in SGA's return

Playing with the reigning league MVP for the first time in more than three weeks, the Oklahoma City Thunder were able to rally from 16 points down to defeat the Denver Nuggets 127-121 in overtime.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 36 points and nine assists in his return after missing nine games with an abdominal strain. In his first game since February 3, the four-time All-Star had an off-night shooting, as he was just 12 of 29 from the field, and was also on a minutes limit and sat out the entire overtime.

Welcome back, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

36 PTS
9 AST
2 STL
2 BLK

Thunder secure the OT win in SGA's return! pic.twitter.com/D4eZTAGe7C
— NBA (@NBA) February 28, 2026

Cason Wallace and Isaiah Joe both stepped up in the extra session, as each scored six points to help the Thunder (46-15) win for the fourth time in five games. Chet Holmgren also made all four of his free throw attempts in OT and finished with 15 points and a career-best 21 rebounds.

In a physical game that saw Gilgeous-Alexander get called for a technical foul in the opening minutes for throwing a ball at Nikola Jokić, Lu Dort and Jokić got into a bit of a scuffle in the fourth quarter, leading to Dort's ejection.

Jokić finished with 23 points, 17 rebounds and 14 assists for his NBA-leading 22nd triple-double.

Jamal Murray led the Nuggets (37-23) with 39 points and made 7 of 13 shots from 3-point range in 47 minutes after being listed as questionable to play because of an illness, which limited him to just eight minutes in Wednesday's 103-84 win over Boston.

Pistons rally late to beat depleted Cavaliers in OT

The Detroit Pistons overcame a blaring horn and a late deficit to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 122-119 in overtime.

Jalen Duren matched a career high with 33 points and added 16 rebounds for his fourth straight game with at least 25 points and 10 boards and Cade Cunningham had 25 points, 10 boards and seven assists before fouling out as Detroit won for the seventh time in eight games.

Things didn't look good for the Eastern Conference-leading Pistons (44-14) as they trailed the Cavaliers (37-24) by nine points with 2:44 left in regulation, and still found themselves down by four points when Cunningham fouled out with 1:56 to play, but Detroit stormed back.

Daniss Jenkins sent the game to overtime by making three free throws with 4.7 seconds left after being fouled by Jaylon Tyson near half-court. Tyson was trying to intentionally foul Jenkins, but Jenkins was able to hoist up the ball and draw the shooting foul.

Cleveland's Evan Mobley had a chance to send the game to a second extra period, but he missed a 3-pointer at the overtime buzzer.

This all came after the game was delayed for 18 minutes in the third quarter when a power surge caused the overhead scoreboard's horn to blare loudly. To resume play, the arena's main scoreboard had to be turned off and a manual airhorn was used as a replacement.

Mobley had 23 points and 12 rebounds and Jarrett Allen had 25 points and nine boards for Cleveland, which was playing its second straight game without its starting backcourt of James Harden (thumb) and Donovan Mitchell (groin).