Kelly Olynyk scored 20 points, Jae Crowder added 19 points and 12 rebounds and the Boston Celtics held off a fourth-quarter rally for a 102-89 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night.
Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley had 18 points each, and David Lee 10 for the Celtics, who scored the game’s first six points and never trailed after that in winning their fourth straight over the Hornets.
Frank Kaminsky scored a season-high 23 points, Nicholas Batum added 17, Jeremy Lamb and Jeremy Lin had 12 each for Charlotte, which trailed by 20 points in the second half before rallying.
Boston had pulled ahead 72-52 on Jared Sullinger’s layup with 3:28 remaining in the third quarter, but the Hornets cut the Celtics’ lead to 74-62 at the end of the period.
Charlotte then pulled within six points, 92-86, on Batum’s 3-pointer with 3:17 left in the fourth quarter. But Boston outscored the Hornets 10-3 over the final three minutes to win its second straight.
Behind Thomas and Crowder, who had 11 points each in the first half, the Celtics led by as many as 12 points in the second quarter en route to a 47-40 lead at the halftime break.
The Hornets never led at any point of the first two quarters, but came close late in the first period, pulling within 16-14 on Marvin Williams’ 3-pointer with 4:44 remaining. But Boston outscored Charlotte 13-7 over the final 4:40 for a 29-21 lead.
The Celtics would increase their lead to 12 points three times in the second quarter, the last at 40-28 on Crowder’s jumper with 7:24 left.
The Hornets managed to whittle that down to six points, 46-40, on a pair of Jeremy Lin free throws with 43 seconds left, but Thomas’ free throw with 3.8 seconds remaining pushed Boston’s lead back to seven points at the break.
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