Antoine Walker pours in 23 points as Boston knocks off New Orleans with a 93-65 victory.
BOSTON (AP) – Antoine Walker scored 23 points and the Boston Celtics held the New Orleans Hornets to a tie for the fewest points in franchise history, 93-65 Wednesday night.
The win moved the Celtics a game ahead of the Hornets in the tight Eastern Conference race. Boston (37-27) remained in fifth place.
The game was close until late in the first half when Boston went on a 16-2 run to turn a 29-25 edge into a 45-27 lead. The Celtics’ biggest lead was 30 points and they trailed only once, 2-0.
The Hornets also scored 65 points on Dec. 20, 2000 when they were in Charlotte and beat Miami 65-56. Wednesday’s 28-point final margin was their most lopsided of the season. Their previous biggest losses were by 21 points, 108-87 at Philadelphia on Nov. 25 and 114-93 at Minnesota on Feb. 14.
Paul Pierce scored 21 points for the Celtics, who are 6-2 in their last eight games. New Orleans, 1-2 after winning nine straight, was led by Baron Davis with 16 points and Jamal Mashburn with 11. Davis played in just his second game after missing 20 following knee surgery. David Wesley scored only four points, ending his 31-game streak of scoring at least 10.
The Hornets were coming off a Tuesday night victory at Indiana, their fifth straight on the road.
The Celtics’ 16-2 surge started with Pierce’s layup that made it 31-25 with 4:54 left in the half. That was the first of his eight points in the run.
A dunk by Tony Battie and a layup by Pierce gave Boston a 35-25 lead. Then Pierce hit a free throw before Davis sank two for New Orleans, cutting the lead to 36-27.
Boston closed the rally with three 3-pointers – by Pierce, Walker and Walter McCarty, making it 45-27 with 1:50 to go.
The Celtics took their biggest lead, 69-39 on a jumper by Mark Blount with 2:33 left in the third quarter.
The Hornets cut the lead to 70-47 at the end of the quarter, but Boston stretched it to 30 points again on Walker’s jumper with 6:42 left to play that made it 85-55.
Notes: Former Celtics guard Kenny Anderson was on the opposing team in Boston’s two biggest wins of the season. Now with New Orleans, he was with Seattle on Feb. 5 when the Celtics beat the SuperSonics 114-74.
in Boston… Bimbo Coles scored 2 points in his second game with Boston after playing for Cleveland… … Boston committed just six turnovers to 14 for New Orleans.
AP-ES-03-12-03 2138EST
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