Celtics Defeat Pelicans for Fourth Straight Win

While Boston was forecast for up to a foot of snow, the Boston Celtics had a date with the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night. After looking rather sluggish in their game the night before against Philadelphia, Isaiah Thomas scored 38 points and led the Celtics to a 117-108 victory. Their win tonight makes it four straight for Boston and haven’t lost a Game at TD Garden since before Christmas.

Avery Bradley did not start in this game and endured a muscular injury the night before against the Sixers. Opting to play it conservative, Head Coach Brad Stevens had Marcus Smart in his place. The decision worked well in Boston’s favor as Smart scoring a career-high 22 points through 32 minutes of play, as well as added 4 rebounds on defense (5 total) and 6 assists.

Throughout the first quarter, Boston looked slow on defense and were lacking in the rebounding department which left them down 31-28 at the end of one. Adjustments were made and Gerald Green was able to score 15 and Kelly Olynyk adding 12 points of his own, both coming off the bench. After a clutch 3-pointer for the second night in a row from Al Horford with 2:05 left in the first half, the Celtics found their first lead of the game at 52-51. The Celtics eventually went into the locker room leading 57-53. Boston kept on rolling to start the half, scoring an astonishing 36-points in the third quarter. Having done so in blowout fashion, the Celtics felt comfortable leading the Pelicans 93-73 entering the fourth. Isaiah Thomas recorded his 21st consecutive game scoring at least 20 points on his way to finishing the night with 38 points, 18 from 3-point range, as well as 3 rebounds.

The Celtics looked perfect from the free throw line once again after going 19-21, making 90.5% of their attempts. Isaiah Thomas made all six of his free throws against New Orleans, 259-286 on such attempts all season, ranking him 5th in the league for highest FT percentage at 90.6%.

Rounding out the scoring for Boston were Jae Crowder and Al Horford, each scoring 8 points. Amir Johnson was able to match his total points with his rebounds, tallying 6 of each. Now having won four straight and ten of their last twelve, they find themselves five games back of Cleveland for the top spot in the East. Overall, solid team win by the Boys in Green and great preparation for their Eastern Conference showdown with the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night.