There was a time last season when a Finals matchup between the Celtics and Timberwolves was a tantalizing possibility. The teams split their two regular-season games, with both going to overtime.

But Minnesota could not handle the Mavericks in the conference finals, and this year it appears to have taken a step back after trading Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.

Before the game, coach Chris Finch sounded hopeful that Sunday’s matchup might help get his team untracked. And after falling behind by 19 points in the third quarter, the Wolves charged back and had a chance to win on the final possession, but Naz Reid’s 3-point attempt from the top of the key was after the horn sounded and was off the mark, and Boston escaped with a 107-105 win.

Jaylen Brown put a charge into the crowd by draining five 3-pointers over the game’s first four minutes and finished with 28 points. Jayson Tatum had another uneven shooting night, going 8 for 21, but added 26 points and 8 rebounds. The Celtics connected on 21 of 56 3-pointers.

Anthony Edwards had 28 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists to lead the Wolves.

The Celtics led, 79-60, with 4:26 left in the third quarter and appeared poised to coast to a low-stress win. But this team has occasionally struggled to put the finishing touches on blowouts, and in this case the Timberwolves pushed back.

A Jaden McDaniels dunk with 2:06 left sliced Boston’s lead to 104-102, and after Tatum missed a jumper, Edwards lined up a 3-pointer from the top of the key that would have given his team its first lead since the start of the second quarter. The shot was short, and at the other end Brown connected on his seventh 3-pointer.

But Randle hit one of two free throws before adding a layup that made it 107-105 with 33.6 seconds left. Brown missed a deep 3-pointer and DiVincenzo gathered the rebound and raced upcourt in transition, but Minnesota’s bench stopped the burst with a timeout with 7.1 seconds to play.

Edwards took the ensuing inbounds pass and appeared to get a step on Jaylen Brown as he raced into the paint. But he fired a pass to McDaniels in the right corner, and McDaniels swung the ball to Reid at the top of the key. He rushed to get a shot off, but it was ruled to be after the buzzer as it caromed off the rim.

It turned out that Boston’s early work held up. In the first quarter Brown hit 3-pointers on three consecutive Celtics possessions. After Jrue Holiday temporarily paused Brown’s surge by missing a layup, Brown connected on another. The crowd began to sense that something unusual was transpiring, and many fans stood for Boston’s next possession which ended with Brown draining a deep, fadeaway 3-pointer from the right arc over the outstretched arm of Wolves center Rudy Gobert.

At this point, everyone was eager to find out if Brown would ever miss on this day, including Brown himself. But his ambitious try one play later was an airball, and he scored just two more points over the rest of the half.

The end of Brown’s surge coincided with an 11-0 Minnesota surge in which the Celtics were held scoreless for 5 minutes, 36 seconds. When Holiday hit two free throws with 2:50 left, it ended the drought and gave the Celtics their first points from someone other than Brown.

Tatum typically plays the entire first quarter before sitting for the first few minutes of the second, but that rotation was altered Sunday, perhaps to keep Brown on the court while he was in a rhythm. And that left Tatum in charge of the second period.

After his scoreless opening quarter he poured in two early 3-pointers and had 13 points in the second. He helped ignite Boston’s 8-0 burst to start the period and the Celtics’ work on the offensive glass — they had 10 second-chance points in the quarter — allowed them to stretch their lead to 55-43 with 3:14 left.

But then the Celtics hit their second lengthy drought of the half and were held scoreless the rest of the way, helping the Wolves pull within 55-52 at the break. Minnesota held a 28-8 edge in paint points in the first half, helping it offset the Celtics’ 12 3-pointers.

This Boston team is capable of flipping a tense game into a lopsided one quite quickly, however. And with the Wolves trailing, 55-54, two Tatum 3-pointers bookended a 14-0 burst that was crafted in just three minutes.

Three-pointers are usually at the center of Boston’s surges, but this team has the pieces to be elite defensively, too. During a two-play sequence, White swatted a Nickeil Alexander-Walker 3-pointer out of bounds before smothering Edwards and sending back his 15-footer. At the other end of the floor Tatum gestured to the fans to show their appreciation for White.

The Celtics led by as many as 19 points in the third quarter before the Wolves began to chip away at the deficit. A 3-pointer from the left arc by Edwards with 6:18 left in the fourth pulled Minnesota within 95-91.