Karl-Anthony Towns responded to one of the worst performances of his postseason career with 33 points Saturday night and the Minnesota Timberwolves evened their playoff series against the visiting Memphis Grizzlies with a 119-118 victory in Game 4.

Towns hit two clinching free throws with 4.4 seconds remaining to ice the victory.

Towns, whose eight-point effort in a home loss in Game 3 equaled the second-fewest of his playoff career, rebounded with a postseason career-high in helping the seventh-seeded Timberwolves square the series at 2-2.

Unlike two nights earlier, when the Timberwolves blew a big fourth-quarter lead, they managed to hold on this time thanks to stingy defense down the stretch.

After Jarred Vanderbilt turned a D’Angelo Russell assist into a dunk for a 113-107 lead with 2:47 remaining, Minnesota scored just two more points until Anthony Edwards hit two free throws with 8.3 seconds to go.

In the meantime, the Grizzlies had four opportunities to tie or gain a late lead, but they missed two shots and a free throw before Tyus Jones missed from 3-point range with Memphis down just 115-112 with 10.5 seconds left.

The Grizzlies were forced to foul Edwards, whose two foul shots capped a 24-point night.

Dillon Brooks and Desmond Bane hit subsequent desperation 3-pointers, but Towns nailed his two foul shots to provide the Timberwolves a cushion.

Towns contributed to two difference-making areas for the Timberwolves, with 3-for-5 success on 3-pointers and 14-for-17 at the free-throw line.

Minnesota outscored the guests 54-45 on 3-pointers, making 18 of 36, and 31-19 at the foul line, getting 40 opportunities to the Grizzlies’ 25.

All five Minnesota starters scored in double figures, with Patrick Beverley (17 points), Vanderbilt (12) and Russell (10) joining Towns and Edwards. Jordan McLaughlin chipped in with 16 points off the bench, while Towns completed a double-double with a team-high 14 rebounds.

Grizzlies standout Ja Morant was held to a postseason career-low 11 points. He took just 13 shots, making four, while spending much of his night in ball-distribution mode, racking up a game-high 15 assists.

Making eight 3-pointers in 12 tries, Bane paced the Grizzlies with 34 points. Brooks added 24, Brandon Clarke 15 and Jones 13.

Minnesota held the game’s biggest lead at 52-37 with 4:47 remaining in the second quarter.

But befitting a trend in the series, Memphis countered immediately with 10 straight points, setting up a tight second half.

–Field Level Media

Jayson Tatum scored 39 points as the Boston Celtics led most of the way and beat the Brooklyn Nets 109-103 on Saturday night in New York to open a commanding three-games-to-none lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series.

Tatum made 13 of 29 shots for his second 30-plus-point game of the series, putting the second-seeded Celtics on the verge of sweeping the seventh-seeded Nets in Game 4 on Monday. Tatum, who scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the fourth quarter, also finished with six assists and six of Boston’s 13 steals.

Jaylen Brown added 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting as the Celtics led for the final 39:58. Marcus Smart added 14 points as the Celtics shot 50 percent for the game and heard loud “Let’s Go Celtics” chants in the final minutes.

Bruce Brown led the Nets with 26 points, but superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were held to a combined 32 points as the Nets shot 50.6 percent but also allowed 37 points off 21 turnovers.

Durant and Irving each scored 16 points. Irving made only 6 of 17 shots from the field and missed all seven of his 3-point tries.

Brooklyn remained within striking distance early in the fourth before Boston began pulling away. The Nets got the lead down to 88-84 on a 3-pointer by Blake Griffin with 7:42 remaining.

However, Tatum hit a corner 3-pointer over Durant on the next possession, and Jaylen Brown banked in a 20-footer for a 93-84 lead with 6:37 to go.

Tatum helped finish it off on consecutive possessions. He drove the lane and passed the ball out to Al Horford for an open corner 3 with 4:20 remaining, and then converted a finger roll layup for a 101-88 lead with 3:52 to go.

In the third quarter, the Nets were within 75-72 when Patty Mills hit a 3-pointer with 1:15 left, but Smart converted a putback and a transition 3-pointer, and Jaylen Brown dunked to give Boston an 81-72 lead into the fourth.

Tatum scored 12 points and hit a pair of jumpers in the final 70 seconds as the Celtics grabbed a 30-25 lead after one quarter. The Celtics built a 39-27 lead on a dunk by Robert Williams III with 8:23 left, and settled for a 53-50 edge by halftime.

–Field Level Media

The Phoenix Suns have regained homecourt advantage in their series against the New Orleans Pelicans.

They can take a commanding lead in the series if they can win again Sunday night in New Orleans.

The top-seeded Suns bounced back from a series-tying loss at home in Game 2 to beat the host Pelicans 114-111 and take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series Friday night.

They overcame the absence of leading scorer Devin Booker, who is expected to miss at least Sunday’s game because of a hamstring injury. Deandre Ayton dominated the first half and Chris Paul dominated the fourth quarter in Game 3.

“It’s a big win for us,” Paul said. “We knew it was going to be by committee. We knew coming into this arena was going to be tough. I think everybody pitched in, and we did enough to win.”

Ayton had 21 of his 28 points and seven of his 17 rebounds to help Phoenix grab a 59-48 halftime lead.

New Orleans got within two points at the end of the third quarter but couldn’t keep up with Paul in the fourth quarter. Paul, who scored 19 points in the fourth quarter to spur the Suns’ win in Game 1, had 19 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter of Game 3. He finished with 14 assists and didn’t commit a turnover.

“I just picked my spots,” Paul said. “I finally had a couple of shots go down. I just tried to be aggressive. I listened to Deandre. He kept telling me he was going to get me loose, and he told me to just stop passing and shoot the ball. Shots went down, and we got stops at the times when we needed to.”

Phoenix had a 64-40 advantage in points in the paint and the Pelicans’ inside game suffered a blow when starting forward Jaxson Hayes was ejected with 5:13 left in second quarter for committing a flagrant 2 foul against Jae Crowder.

“We’ll be fine,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “(It’s a) long series. We still won at their place. They came and got one at our place. Give them credit. They played hard (and) played together. We’ll regroup, watch some tape, and come back Sunday and be ready.”

Brandon Ingram scored 34 points and CJ McCollum added 30 to lead New Orleans. However, starting center Jonas Valanciunas made just 1 of 5 shots and had 11 rebounds while backup Larry Nance Jr. made 1 of 8 shots and had four rebounds.

In the first two games, Valanciunas averaged 14 points (on 11-of-30 shooting) and 19.0 rebounds, and Nance averaged 13.5 points (on 11-of-17 shooting).

“There’s a lot of emotions that go back and forth in the wins and losses, in execution and lack of execution,” McCollum said. “You’ve got to turn the page, learn from your mistakes, figure out where you can play better, but also look at all the things we’ve done well up to this point.

“Down 1-2, with a game to play at home, I’ll take that. Obviously, we’d have liked to win, but we’ve got a chance to even up the series in front of our fans at home on Sunday.”

–Field Level Media