As the season began, the Boston Celtics won 20 straight games at TD Garden. However, they have been unable to break out of their home court rut in recent weeks. After finally ending their winning streak in a tough game against Denver earlier this month, the Los Angeles Clippers slammed them on Saturday night, giving them their second straight home loss.

 They had to play six more games in a row in Boston, so on Monday night, they played the New Orleans Pelicans and tried to get back to being the best on the hardwood court. Even though it didn’t look easy at times, they made it through and won 118–112. This was their second win at home.

The Celtics’ frontcourt had a tough game tonight because Kristaps Porzingis (ankle) and Luke Kornet (hamstring) were not available. Al Horford and Neemis Queta, a two-way center, were the only active big men left in the game. They were up against Zion Williams, an unusually athletic player, and Jonas Valanciunas, a skilled and strong player. Williamson likes to put up big numbers by accident—he scored 26 points—but the Boston frontcourt did pretty well. Valanciunas only scored 11 points, and both teams had about the same number of boards.

On a night when the Celtics looked bad on offense for about three-quarters of the game, Jayson Tatum (28 points), Jaylen Brown (22 points), and Jrue Holiday (20 points) all scored more than 20 points. They did make plays when it counted, though. Derrick White, in particular, ignored the fact that he had a quiet night to make a string of game-winning plays late in the fourth quarter that put the Celtics ahead for good.

The Celtics’ shots just wouldn’t go in during the first quarter. On offense, things seemed a little off. The ball kept rimming out of open shots, and players turned the ball over because they didn’t understand what to do. The Celtics’ shooters couldn’t get into a flow from three-point range, making less than 25% of their shots in the quarter. The Pelicans, on the other hand, looked at ease and played without thinking about themselves. In the first frame, every player in their starting group scored. The Celtics were behind by 11 points at the start of the second quarter, 36-25.

When play started again in the second quarter, the defense that couldn’t hit turned a slump into a trend. Just like they did against the Clippers, the Celtics made a lot of three-pointers but only a few of them went in. Also, just like the Clippers, the Pelicans started to pull away. At the beginning of the quarter, they had a lead of up to 15 points.

But, unlike the Clippers game, the Celtics came back. The Pelicans were taking it easy and Williamson looked tired. In the middle of the quarter, Boston went on a 10-2 run to cut the lead back to just 10 points. The Celtics, especially Tatum, were better at attacking the basket, but they didn’t always get better at making threes. Tatum scored 14 points, which was the most on the team, and the Celtics were behind 60–50 at halftime, but still had a comfortable lead.

The Celtics were much more sure of themselves in the first few minutes of the third quarter. As soon as the game started again, they went on another 10-2 run, led by Brown. This made Pelicans coach Willie Green call a timeout just over two minutes into the quarter. The Boston attack was thrown for a loop when Brown and Holiday sped up the court in transition and scored with confidence. It seemed like the span of a blink and New Orleans’ lead was over.

On the strength of an 8-0 run, the Celtics took back the lead for the first time since the 10-minute mark of the first quarter. It didn’t last long, though. For most of the quarter, the Celtics kept the Pelicans off-balance. However, some costly mistakes by the Celtics helped them catch up. In the last few minutes of the third quarter, the Pelicans went on a 12–3 run. The Celtics went into the fourth quarter behind by six points, 87–81.

While Brown and Holiday played most of the third quarter and didn’t score, Tatum came back into the game in the fourth. His seven mistakes were the most on the team and made him the only Celtic with more than one. It wasn’t his best game, but he did make a couple of tough baskets early in the frame as the Celtics tried to keep New Orleans from getting too far ahead. It was enough. The Celtics stopped the Pelicans in their tracks and went on another 10-2 run to tie the game again in the middle of the frame.

With just under six minutes left in the game, the two teams played a bit of tug-of-war. After a few back-and-forth baskets, the Pelicans went ahead by two points. But the Celtics answered with their most impressive run of the night. White made a three-pointer to give Boston a one-point lead. He then stole the ball, found Tatum in motion, and dunk it to get the crowd at TD Garden excited. As the game was ending, White kept making an effect by making a layup and a three-pointer in response to Trey Murphy’s. These plays gave the Celtics a 107-101 lead.

This was what the Celtics called the “dagger sequence.” After that, the Pelicans didn’t seem to do anything. With less than two minutes left, the Celtics suddenly had an eight-point lead after Horford made a two-pointer and Boston turned a Williamson mistake into a layup for Tatum. After the Pelicans took a break, Brown made a three-pointer to make the win official.

The Celtics will now play their last game of the season against the Indiana Pacers, a team they’ve seen a lot this season. The game will be held at TD Garden on Tuesday at 7:30 PM EST on TNT and will be the fifth of the season.