As chaos hit its climax in the final seconds, Kristaps Porzingis kept his cool. With the Celtics leading the Grizzlies by two during a wild sequence, the ball found Ziaire Williams, whose desperation game-tying shot found Porzingis’ hand.

Porzingis stood in satisfaction of the moment and seemed to send some trash talk in Williams’ direction as he lay on the court. His Celtics teammates swarmed him. And they all stood there for a moment to ensure the victory was secured.

Somehow, the Celtics survived.

For a second consecutive game, the Celtics were not at their best. Against an inferior Grizzlies team missing eight players, they were caught in another rockfight. It was emotional, physical, frustrating and sloppy, a game deserving of Marcus Smart, who was sitting on the Memphis bench all night due to an injury. But once again, the C’s found a way. Porzingis’ sixth block of the game clinched a gutsy 102-100 victory in Memphis.

Porzingis – the man acquired for Smart in that shocking trade back in June – showed his value again with 26 points and those six blocks, as he saved his best for last to lead the Celtics to their sixth consecutive victory.

“We got lucky to win that game,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters in Memphis.

The Celtics could never find a way to shake the scrappy Grizzlies, led by Desmond Bane and Santi Aldama’s combined 13 3-pointers. Memphis successfully mucked the game up and had a counter-punch ready for the Celtics in every moment. The C’s only escaped after a frantic sequence in the final seconds.

The C’s trailed by two with 1:48 to go after Bane’s seventh 3-pointer before they once again pushed through in crunch time. Porzingis was fouled on the next possession and tied the game. On the next trip down, Jayson Tatum found Porzingis cutting for a dunk for a 102-100 lead.

Then, chaos ensued.

The Celtics forced a stop with 37 seconds left before Tatum missed a jumper with 18 seconds left. Derrick White corralled the rebound with 14 seconds left, and handed it to Tatum, and the C’s could have clinched the game at the free throw line. But Tatum inexplicably passed the ball to a cutting Jrue Holiday, who found himself wide open in the paint, attacked the basket and missed a dunk attempt.

The Grizzlies grabbed the rebound and raced the other way, where Aldama missed a go-ahead 3-point attempt with four seconds left before Porzingis’ winning play at the buzzer.

That final sequence represented a lackluster night for the Celtics full of mistakes. The decision to go for and miss a bucket while up two could have easily cost them, but they got away with it.

“I didn’t think we deserved to win the game because a lot of the stuff that we did,” Mazzulla told reporters. “At the end of the game there, you either have to make the layup or get fouled. That’s just how it is. You gotta make it, or you have to dribble the clock out and you get fouled and you make your free throws and the game’s over.”

The Celtics’ frustrations were apparent during a strange third quarter, when the whistle constantly seemed to go against them. Jaylen Brown picked up a technical foul arguing a call. Kristaps Porzingis was whistled for two offensive fouls in a short sequence, which sent him to the bench. Tatum, once again, was less than his best. He committed eight turnovers, which included four offensive fouls.

In an atypical move, both Tatum and Brown sat together for the final seven minutes of the third quarter. Seldom-used bench players like Neemias Queta and Lamar Stevens were used in critical spots, but the Celtics, though they took a nine-point lead late in the period, could never find a rhythm.

Mazzulla said the Grizzlies outplayed them, that the C’s were undisciplined on both ends and were outplayed. They trailed multiple times in the fourth quarter as Bane’s hot shooting and the Grizzlies’ hustle plays pushed them ahead. The C’s probably deserved to lose, but they’ll certainly take the learning lessons with the victory anyway.

“I can’t have the expectation of perfection, like we’re always going to play well,” Mazzulla told reporters. “That’s just not reality. There’s 82 of these things. It doesn’t mean I’m not happy. Like I’m not happy about it. I was happy with how the game went about in the game against Toronto, tonight I’m not happy about it, but I understand it, that it’s going to happen and it’s just building basketball character.”

Other takeaways and notes:

– The Celtics only took 14 3-point attempts in the first half – seven in each quarter – and ultimately a season-low 31 for the game, which was a shockingly low number given their typical volume (league-leading 44.3 attempts per game entering Sunday) and the opponent. The Grizzlies entered the night with the worst 3-point defense in the NBA – opponents were shooting 41.7 percent from deep – but seemed to emphasize slowing the Celtics from long range.

The Grizzlies’ ability to limit the Celtics’ outside shooting helped keep the game close, but the C’s managed to find success in other ways. They scored 18 points in the paint in the first quarter, which included Porzingis – who scored 11 in the opening period – taking advantage of several mismatches.

– Sam Hauser seemed to be the only one hitting shots for a while, as his hot November continued. The Celtics started the game 4-for-15 from deep, with all of those makes coming from Hauser. Brown was the first Celtics starter to make a 3-pointer, which came early in the third quarter.

– Brown was cleared to play in Sunday’s game after he suffered a mild right adductor strain in Friday’s win over the Raptors, when he slipped on Toronto’s special In-Season Tournament court. He called the state of that court unacceptable. On Sunday, he said he had an MRI that confirmed the injury wasn’t serious. It’s unclear if he’ll play in both games of the Celtics’ back-to-back, with the second game coming Monday night in Charlotte.

“All signs point to everything being OK,” Brown told reporters.