Pint-sized point guard Isaiah Thomas scored 23 points in three quarters, and five other players finished in double figures as the Boston Celtics kept John Wall in check and beat the Washington Wizards 116-91 on Monday night.
The 5-foot-9 Thomas was sinking shots from all over the floor and driving all over the Wizards (20-22) as the Celtics (25-21) won their third straight. He added nine assists and did it all before coach Brad Stevens held him out when the game became lopsided.
Evan Turner had 18 points for the Celtics, who got 13 from Kelly Olynyk and Marcus Smart and 11 from Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder.
Wall had eight points on 3-of-11 shooting. Washington’s Otto Porter returned after missing four games with a sore right hip and scored 15.
Even though the Celtics played Sunday night at Philadelphia, they had plenty of jump against the Wizards, who hadn’t played in five days because of the blizzard that struck the East Coast. Boston and Washington went back and forth in the first half with 14 lead changes.
But the Celtics turned it up late in the second quarter, scoring on nine of their final 11 possessions to go on a 19-8 run. A fallaway jumper by Thomas in the final seconds with the shot clock running out made it 53-49 Boston at halftime.
Washington’s final lead of the game was 49-48, and the Celtics held on in the second half. Thomas, Turner and Bradley provided plenty of offense to fend off a couple of Wizards charges.
Boston’s lead ballooned to 14 by the end of the third quarter, and the Celtics cruised from there.
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