The Boston Celtics have been living on the edge during their last two games. They lost a double-overtime contest to the Golden State Warriors last night, and then took Hornets down to the wire tonight in Charlotte.
This time, however, the C’s weren’t willing to fall to the same fate, as they outlasted the Hornets, 98-93.
Boston trailed 89-86 with three and a half minutes to go before it made its final push to the finish.
Amir Johnson, Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley got it going by hitting layups on three consecutive possessions that put the C’s up 92-89 with two minutes left.
Jeremy Lin then cut into Boston’s lead with a layup and blocked Thomas’ lay-in attempt at the other end of the floor. IT, however, collected the rebound, was fouled and hit both of his free throws to put Boston up 94-91.
Kemba Walker then made things interesting once again for Charlotte, when he hit a pull-up jumper to pull within one with 13.5 seconds remaining.
Charlotte had to foul if it wanted any chance at the win.
When the C’s inbounded to Thomas, the Hornets began hacking away, but no whistle was blown. He then passed it off to Crowder near the sideline, who was promptly fouled with 6.6 seconds left, before hitting both attempts at the line.
Down 96-93, the Hornets had one last chance. Nicolas Batum, however, air-balled an uncontested 30-foot 3-point attempt from the top of the arc with 3.6 seconds left and Boston held on for the impressive road win on its second game of a back-to-back.
Boston’s offense struggled during the opening half tonight in Charlotte, so Isaiah Thomas took the wheel out of the break and righted the ship.
He dished out seven of his career-high 13 assists during Boston’s 35-point third quarter effort.
At one point during that frame he assisted on six of seven straight buckets for the C’s. The only basket he didn’t assist on during that stretch, was his own – a 3-pointer that put Boston up 52-51 at the time.
Along with his outstanding passing effort, Thomas added 21 points on 8-of-16 from the field.
Boston needed someone to step up in wake of its exhausting double-overtime loss to Golden State Friday night, and IT was there to deliver a true point guard performance.
Evan Turner on Boston’s success on second games of back-to-backs.
