MIAMI (AP) – Anfernee Simons scored a season-high 39 points, including 18 in the fourth quarter, and the Boston Celtics rallied to beat the Miami Heat 119-114 on Thursday night.
Jaylen Brown added 27 points for the Celtics, who trailed for much of the game.
Sam Hauser added 17 points to the cause of Boston, which outscored Miami 36-21 in the fourth quarter and pocketed the victory after facing a deficit of up to 19 points. It was their second biggest comeback of the season, after rallying from a 20-point deficit to beat Indiana on December 22.
Simons had the second-most points game by a substitute this season – Utah’s Brice Sensabaugh scored 43 on Wednesday in a loss to Chicago – and became the fourth Celtics player in the last 50 years to score at least 39 points off the bench.
The others: Larry Bird, Todd Day and Payton Pritchard.
Norman Powell scored 26 points for Miami, which got respective contributions of 22 points from Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. Andrew Wiggins added 16 for the Heat.
