BOSTON (AP) — Isaiah Thomas scored 17 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter and the surging Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers 113-107 on Friday night for their sixth consecutive victory.
Al Horford added 11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Celtics. Thomas logged his 34th straight game with 20 or more points and is six shy of John Havlicek’s franchise-record streak.
Jae Crowder had 18 points, Jaylen Brown added 12 and Terry Rozier scored 10 for Boston (32-18).
D’Angelo Russell led the Lakers with 20 points. Lou Williams scored 20, Larry Nance Jr. had 18 and Nick Young 17 as Los Angeles (17-36) lost for the fifth time in six games.
Boston and Los Angeles both began the night with 3,252 wins, tied for the most in NBA history. Before their loss, the Lakers held at least a share of the league’s all-time victories mark since 2001.
With Toronto’s loss to Orlando earlier in the night, Celtics coach Brad Stevens was assured his spot as coach of the Eastern Conference in the NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans next Sunday.
Thomas scored seven points in the third as the Celtics broke the game open and led by as many as 16. The Lakers cut it to 82-74 after three but couldn’t get the deficit below six.
Boston opened the game on a 7-0 run before Russell’s 3-pointer put the Lakers up 15-14 with 7:34 left in the first quarter. Rozier’s buzzer-beating 3 drew the Celtics to 30-29 after one. Thomas had 12 points in the period.
Rozier’s floater a minute into the second put the Celtics ahead for good, and Boston stretched its lead to 62-51 at halftime.
The Lakers and Celtics meet again March 3 in Los Angeles.
TIP-INS
Lakers: F Julius Randle was out after playing sparingly in Thursday’s game at Washington as he recovers from pneumonia. Randle missed two games before logging six minutes against the Wizards. “Coming back from pneumonia, it’s not just a normal sickness,” coach Luke Walton said.
Celtics: G Avery Bradley (sore right Achilles) missed his ninth consecutive game. Bradley felt good after working out and doing some on-court work Friday. “We’re still progressing at a conservative rate,” Stevens said. “We want him feeling 110 percent.” … F Kelly Olynyk played after sitting out Wednesday in Toronto with a sore left shoulder.
UP NEXT
Lakers: Continue a five-game road trip in New York on Monday.
Celtics: Host the Clippers on Sunday in Paul Pierce’s last regular-season game in Boston.
(Copyright (c) 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)