Coming into Sunday, the Celtics (7-7) were extremely well rested having not played a game since Wednesday night at home against the Grizzlies (4-10) - a game they won big after a disappointing loss on Tuesday night to the 76ers (7-5).

That rest put Boston in a strong position to win two in a row regardless of who was on the docket, and the fact that they had a Clippers (4-9) team on tap that had lost six straight games before beating the Mavericks (3-10) on Friday night made those chances of winning two in a row even higher.

The Celtics built a massive early cushion with those fresh legs on Sunday, yet still somehow almost blew the afternoon game at TD Garden. Despite a late push from the Clippers, Boston escaped on Sunday with a 121–118 win.

Here are some takeaways from Sunday:

1. Comeback In-Context:

Boston controlled the opening stretch, running the floor at will and piling up 15 fast-break points in the first half. The Clippers briefly found rhythm from beyond the arc but couldn’t sustain it, and their starting unit struggled to match the Celtics’ early pace.

The game shifted after halftime.

Boston’s lead swelled to 24, only for the Clippers to respond with a 30-11 third quarter surge that tightened the margin to an uncomfortable level for the Boston crowd.

James Harden nearly dragged LA all the way back, pouring in 18 fourth quarter points as the Clippers trimmed the deficit to a single point. With 1.6 seconds left and no timeouts, Harden freed himself for a clean game-tying three, but the attempt rimmed out, sealing the Celtics’ narrow win (more on this later).

2. Finally securing a close one:

The Celtics appeared ready to coast, but the Clippers’ relentless late push forced Boston into another tense finish - a scenario that hasn’t treated them well this season.

This matchup officially goes down as a clutch game, and Boston improved to 3-5 in such situations. Importantly, they never surrendered the lead.

Jaylen Brown was massive down the stretch in this one, despite not having an overly efficient night on the whole.

Brown shot 14 for 33, absorbing the scoring responsibility late and delivering the necessary buckets to keep LA at arm’s length.

Steve Jones (@stevejones20) on X Clippers almost got this to go to tie the game.

3. Stars Showed Up:

Payton Pritchard powered Boston with 30 points, while Derrick White flirted with a triple-double, posting 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 9 assists. Brown added 33 points and 13 boards - his first double-double of the season.

Harden led all scorers with 37 points, plus 7 rebounds and 8 assists, and Ivica Zubac contributed 16 points and 12 rebounds for LA.

Both Celtics guards entered the season as trusted shooters, yet have spent the opening weeks searching for a rhythm. Sunday looked like it could be the start of a turning point.

Pritchard buried 8 of 13 threes, while White knocked down 4 of 8 from deep. Considering Pritchard came into the night hitting just 28.1% from long range with White sitting at 29.2%, Sunday’s performance for both players was much needed.

This was actually a second consecutive game where Pritchard had a nice game offensively, as he led the team in scoring on Wednesday with 24 points.

4. Walsh-aissance Rolls On:

I continue to gladly eat crow on this guy.

Jordan Walsh earned his second consecutive start thanks to his recent defensive energy, and again he justified the decision.

Tasked with the Harden matchup for long stretches, Walsh finished with 6 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists in 33 minutes, showcasing the versatility that has endeared him to the coaching staff. And while he did ultimately surrender most of Harden’s 37 points, it was a much better performance defensively than the stat sheet would tell you. This was the perfect example of a game where you had to watch it to understand his true impact.

Whether he continues starting remains unclear, but his emergence - along with contributions from Josh Minott and Hugo Gonzalez - gives Boston three young wings showing real promise early in the season.

5. Time to Stack Wins:

The Celtics have weathered a dense early slate, and now a softer stretch opens the door for momentum.

Over the next 16 days, they play just six games, including a pair against the struggling Nets (2-11) Tuesday in Brooklyn and Friday in Boston as part of NBA Cup play.

With the team hovering around .500, this is a prime opportunity to stack wins and establish their first meaningful streak of the season.

Lingering Thoughts & Nuggets:

- Let’s talk about that final play for the Clippers for a second. What an unbelievable inbounds pass from Kris Dunn all the way down to Zubac at the top of the key. The center then dished it perfectly to Harden, who caught the ball perfectly in stride for an open look at what would have been the game-winning three. It was absolutely sick, and I’m almost bummed as a basketball fan that it didn’t go in. You know it was sick that it was the only thing everyone at the press level wanted to talk about while we waited for Joe Mazzulla to come do his postgame press conference. Truly cool to see that type of play in motion, even if it was unsuccessful.

- A massive pop from the crowd for a couple Pats who were in the house on Sunday, as All-Pro cornerback Christian Gonzalez and rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson were both in attendance with their team on the mini-bye after a Thursday Night Football win over the Jets.

- Can we talk for a second about how weird this answer was from Mazzulla? Like, bro - it’s a kid. Relax, dude.

Tom Carroll (@yaboiTCfresh) on X With today being “Kids Day” at TD Garden, the final question of Joe Mazzulla’s postgame press conference went to Rusty from @sikids: Q: “How do you balance pushing players to improve while also keeping the game fun for them?” Joe: “…I think ‘fun’ is a cop-out sometimes. When

- I wrote about it at length earlier in the day, but Ray Allen should have his number retired by the Celtics at some point. Check out my thoughts here.

Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.