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Celtics Defeat Hornets 98-93

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Avery Bradley scored 23 points, Isaiah Thomas added 21 points and 13 assists, and the Boston Celtics snapped the Charlotte Hornets' four-game winning streak with a 98-93 victory on Saturday night.

Jae Crowder added 16 points and seven rebounds for the Celtics (14-10), who have won seven of their last 10 games. Boston bounced back after a heartbreaking double-overtime loss on Friday night to Stephen Curry and the unbeaten Golden State Warriors.

The Hornets had a chance to tie the game late but Nicolas Batum's 30-foot jumper off a side inbounds play with 6.6 seconds remaining missed everything. Evan Turner put away the game with a layup.

Batum led the Hornets with 21 points and eight rebounds, and Kemba Walker had 16 points. Charlotte came in with a 10-3 record at home, but shot just 11 of 35 from 3-point range.

The Celtics trailed 42-38 at the half after shooting 35 percent from the field, including 1 of 10 on 3-pointers. But their fortunes changed in the second half as they knocked seven of their first eight shots from beyond the arc to build a 69-57 lead.

The Hornets battled back to tie the game at 81 with 8:04 left behind a pair of jumpers from Jeremy Lin and a 3-pointer from the top of the key by Jeremy Lamb.

But the Celtics took the lead for good at 90-89 when Thomas scored on a 3-on-1 fast break after Walker missed a driving layup in the lane. Walker looked for a foul but didn't get the call.

Down three, the Hornets had a chance to tie but Batum and Marvin Williams both missed 3-pointers.

Charlotte got another chance though, as Bradley missed a fadeaway jumper and Williams corralled the rebound with 21 seconds left.

Walker hit a short jumper from the elbow to cut Boston's lead to one, but Crowder was fouled in the backcourt by Walker and made two free throws with 6.6 seconds left to push the lead back to 96-93.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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