Jaylen Brown scored four of his 40 points in the final minute, and the Boston Celtics blew most of a 27-point lead in the fourth quarter before holding on for their fifth straight victory, 121-113 over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.

Brown made 13 of his first 14 shots and hit three 3-pointers while falling two points shy of his career high for the Celtics, who have won eight of 11 despite an embarrassing finish at Staples Center.

Boston led 113-86 with seven minutes to play, shortly after coach Brad Stevens pulled his starters. But Talen Horton-Tucker and Ben McLemore led a 24-2 run by the Lakers that forced Brown and Boston’s first string back into the game.

Horton-Tucker scored 19 points and Marc Gasol had a season-high 18 for Los Angeles, which has alternated wins and losses since March 28. McLemore scored 15 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter of his home debut with the Lakers.

“Those guys came out and competed their tails off,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said of his end-of-the-bench reserves and Horton-Tucker. “I wanted them to be able to get the ‘W,’ but that was awesome how they played.”

Along with the long-term absences of superstars Anthony Davis and LeBron James, the Lakers faced Boston without new center Andre Drummond, who has a bruised right big toe, and Markieff Morris, who has a sprained left ankle.

Dennis Schröder nearly sat out with an infection on the ball of his right foot, but contributed eight points and eight assists. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope also played through mid-game back spasms, and Gasol stayed in after dislocating his pinky finger, which got popped back into place during a timeout. APNEWS