Glen Davis and Ray Allen lead Boston Celtics to 89-85 win over New Orleans Hornets
The Boston Celtics overcame an 11-point first half deficit in the third quarter, to clinch a narrow 89-85 win over the New Orleans Hornets, at the New Orleans Arena on Saturday night.
Both Glen Davis and Ray Allen added 20 points in Boston’s 49th win of the 2010-11 season. Forward Kevin Garnett had 12 points and nine rebounds while Jeff Green came off the bench with 10 points in the victory.
Delonte West did all he could as he scored a game-high 32 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the defeat.
The 24-year-old guard Marco Belinelli played an effective game, as he finished with 23 points for the Hornets, who lost their 11th home game of the season. Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza scored 10 points each, while Ariza also pulled down a game-high
11 rebounds in the losing effort.
Chris Paul was not up to the mark this time as he went scoreless only for the fourth time in his entire NBA career. He was 0 of 9 from the floor but managed to grab 15 assists.
Paul was disappointed with his performance and said after the game, "It is going to be hard for us to win if I play like that. I have got to do better. We lose by four points, and I play like that."
Match Analysis
All eyes were on the second game of Boston's back-to-back series, and the Celtics did not disappoint their fans this time, as they bounced back from their shocking 93-77 defeat to the Houston Rockets on Friday.
The 49-year-old Boston Head Coach, Doc Rivers said that bouncing back from the previous loss meant a lot to the players. He said, "We played so poorly last night and we really just started the game the same way today. It meant a lot to the guys to come back.
They wanted this win."
The Hornets came out aggressively in the opening quarter, taking a 34-13 edge into the second. New Orleans kept playing some solid defence in the second quarter to stay in control of the game and carried a 51-40 lead into the locker room.
Boston really hit their stride late in the third quarter when they hit 12 of 16 shots. The Celtics converted the 11-point half time deficit into a 67-64 lead, heading into the last quarter.
The Hornets fought hard in the fourth quarter and cut the lead to 87-85 with just three seconds to go until the final buzzer. However, Boston answered with a pair of free throws from Allen in the last second to seal the victory.
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