BOSTON — The Boston Celtics have blown fourth-quarter leads in four of their seven losses this season. James Harden tried his best to add to that list on Sunday.

Harden scored 18 of his 37 points in the final five minutes — including nine in the last 22 seconds of regulation — as the visiting Clippers cut a 24-point Boston lead to one. But the former NBA MVP’s would-be game-tying 3-pointer clanged off the rim as time expired, allowing the Celtics to escape with a 121-118 win at TD Garden.

“You tip your cap to Harden,” Payton Pritchard said. “He started hitting some tough shots. At the end of the day, we got the win, and that’s all that matters.”

Jaylen Brown paced the 7-7 Celtics with 33 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block in his first double-double of the season. Pritchard scored a season-high 30 on 10-of-16 shooting, including 8 for 13 from 3-point range. Derrick White hit four of his eight 3s — including a clutch make late as Boston weathered Harden’s furious comeback bid — to finish with 22 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.

Jordan Walsh, the newest addition to Boston’s starting lineup, notched eight rebounds, three steals and a block as the primary defender against Harden, who was held to five points on 1-of-7 shooting in the first half before erupting down the stretch.

The 4-8 Clippers have been one of the Western Conference’s biggest disappointments this season, needing double overtime Friday night in Dallas to snap a six-game losing streak. Tyronn Lue’s squad played Sunday’s game without six-time All-Star Kawhi Leonard and lost starter Derrick Jones Jr. to a knee injury during the second quarter.

Boston will face another scuffling opponent, the 1-11 Nets, on Tuesday in Brooklyn. The Nets then will visit Causeway Street on Friday.

“I think we just made some plays down the stretch,” Brown said. “I think our guys are getting comfortable in those moments. (There are) some benefits, I guess, to playing a bunch of close games. We get some more experience, getting battle-tested a little bit. So we were able to finish some plays down the stretch.”

After making four-plus 3-pointers in just three of his first 13 games, Pritchard hit that number in the first quarter against Los Angeles, starting 4 for 5 from distance as the Celtics built an early double-digit lead. White also converted his first three 3-point attempts.

Boston’s starting guards were among the NBA’s most erratic outside shooters over the first three weeks of the season, but both have settled in of late. Pritchard and White went a combined 20 for 37 (54.0%) over Boston’s last two games.

As a team, the Celtics shot 41.0% of their 3s on Sunday, just shy of their season-best 41.2% mark in Friday’s win over Memphis.

Brown did much of his first-half scoring at or near the rim — including a pair of and-one layups in transition — but also added to his resume as the NBA’s foremost midrange shot-maker this season. Brown, the league leader in midrange baskets made per game, hit a turnaround jumper from the foul line and two long twos, helping the Celtics carry a 63-49 lead into halftime.

Many players and teams, including the Celtics, have deemphasized midrange shooting in recent years in favor of higher-percentage dunks/layups and higher-scoring 3-pointers. But those shots have been a weapon for Brown this season as he spearheads the Celtics’ offense without injured co-star Jayson Tatum.

Brown entered Sunday shooting a career-best 53.2% on midrange field goals and 62.1% from between 15 and 19 feet, per NBA player tracking. No NBA player has made more shots per game from either distance this season.

His touch around the rim wavered later in the game, however, and he missed six of his seven 3-point attempts.

“I just missed a bunch of shots at the rim tonight, a bunch of layups,” Brown said. “I wonder how many layups I missed tonight. Just not a great game for me.”

Pritchard threatened to put the game out of reach with four more 3-pointers in the opening four minutes of the second half, but a 15-2 Clippers run trimmed Boston’s lead from 22 points to 11.

Harden, largely contained by Walsh and Baylor Scheierman until halftime, came alive with 14 points in the third quarter. The Celtics also struggled to keep the Clippers off the offensive glass; a third of the 36 points Los Angeles scored in the quarter were of the second-chance variety.

The Clippers trailed 90-85 entering the final period. Free throws from Bogdan Bogdanovich made it a three-point game. Then, Boston recovered.

Brown stole a Bogdanovic pass, grabbed an offensive rebound to set up a Neemias Queta layup, and then poured in 11 points in the next three minutes to help the Celtics rebuild a double-digit advantage.

Points by Harden on three straight possessions got Los Angeles back to within three, but the Clippers couldn’t find the equalizer. Queta (14 points, nine rebounds, three assists) temporarily halted the rally with a make at the rim, followed by a strong contest at the other end that sprung Walsh for a transition opportunity. Walsh was fouled on his layup attempt and made both free throws.

Those were just his third and fourth foul shots of the season for the defensive-focused Walsh, and easily the most pressure-packed of the 18 he’s attempted in his NBA career.

White then drilled a 3-pointer — his first since early in the second quarter — to make it 115-105 with 1:29 remaining. But Harden drew a three-shot foul on Walsh a minute later that cut it to 115-112.

Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla called Harden, who went 14 for 15 from the line in the game, “one of the most elite foul-drawers.”

“I think (Walsh) did a great job,” Mazzulla said. “I’d prefer not to get a flagrant foul on a 3-point shot, but it’s easier said than done when you have to guard him for as long as he did, for 33 straight minutes.”

Brown flushed what appeared to be a game-sealing dunk on the ensuing trip, but Harden still had two more 3-pointers in him. Late-game free throws by White and Pritchard proved to be just enough cushion for Boston, as Harden’s final attempt at the buzzer, which would have forced overtime, missed the mark by inches.

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