NBA Roundup: Celtics Pull Away

Boston — Isaiah Thomas had 38 points and nine assists, Jae Crowder scored 23 and the Boston Celtics beat the Houston Rockets 120-109 on Wednesday night.

It was Thomas’ 15th game this season with at least 30 points and his 29th consecutive outing with 20 or more. Crowder grabbed 10 rebounds and Al Horford totaled 20 points and nine assists for Boston (27-18), which had lost three straight games.

James Harden finished with 30 points and 12 assists, Ryan Anderson scored 19 and Sam Dekker had 15 off the bench as the Rockets (34-15) lost for the sixth time in nine games.

Boston erased a six-point halftime deficit, and Crowder’s layup with 10:06 left in the third quarter gave the Celtics a 62-61 lead. His running layup at the 6:58 mark put them ahead 73-66.

Boston stretched the lead to eight before Rockets pulled to 88-86 entering the fourth.

With 5:12 remaining and the game tied at 98, Thomas hit two free throws after a flagrant-1 foul on Harden and followed with a jumper and a driving hook to put the Celtics up 104-98.

Terry Rozier hit a 3-pointer before layups by Horford and Crowder capped the 13-2 spurt that put the game out of reach.

Harden and Anderson combined for 18 points in the first quarter, and the Rockets clung to a 27-24 advantage after one.

Dekker’s turnaround jumper pushed Houston’s lead to double figures at 44-33 with 6:40 to play before halftime, matching its largest lead. Boston whittled the lead down to 58-52 at the break after Horford’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

Harden scored 37 points and Houston escaped with a 107-106 win in its only other meeting with Boston this season on Dec. 5. Horford missed a potential game-winning layup as time expired.

Notes: G Marcus Smart did not start, but coach Brad Stevens insisted that decision had nothing to do with Smart’s heated argument with assistant coaches during Tuesday’s game at Washington. “We’re going to start differently tonight, but that’s because I want to start differently,” Stevens said. F Jaylen Brown replaced Smart, who had started eight of Boston’s last 11 games. … G Avery Bradley (sore right Achilles) missed his fourth straight game. Stevens said last Saturday that Bradley would miss all four games this week.

The Celtics will take to the parquet court next season wearing a General Electric Co. logo on their uniforms.

The team said on Wednesday it has a three-year deal that makes the company its exclusive data analytics partner. The agreement calls for a GE patch — in green and white, not the traditional GE blue — on jerseys above the player’s left breast.

The Celtics are the third NBA team to announce a deal to wear a sponsor’s patch on its jersey since the league gave the go-ahead. The Philadelphia 76ers and Sacramento Kings also have deals that were worth a reported $5 million apiece.

Financial terms of the Celtics deal were not announced.

GE moved its headquarters from Connecticut to Boston last summer.

Kings 116Cavaliers 112 (ot)

Cleveland — Arron Afflalo dropped a 3-pointer with 17.3 seconds left in overtime, lifting Sacramento over the slumping Cavaliers, who lost for the sixth time in eight games amid criticism by LeBron James.

DeMarcus Cousins had 28 points and 10 rebounds for the Kings, who trailed by five in overtime before battling back. Darren Collison added 23 points for Sacramento.

James finished with 24 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists, and Kevin Love had 21 points and 16 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough.

Warriors 113, Hornets 103

Charlotte, n.c. — Kevin Durant scored 16 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter, Stephen Curry added 28 points on six 3-pointers in his annual homecoming game and Golden State rallied to beat Charlotte.

Klay Thompson had 19 points for the Warriors, who avenged a 105-102 loss to the Miami Heat on Monday.

Curry capped a memorable trip home to Charlotte in which he had his high school jersey retired and was honored at Davidson College with the naming of “Section 30” at Belk Arena, where the Wildcats play their home games.

Heat 109, Nets 106

New York — Dion Waiters scored 14 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, including the clinching 3 with 6.8 seconds left, and Miami overcame an 18-point deficit in the final period to beat beleaguered Brooklyn.

Wayne Ellington had 22 points and Goran Dragic added 17 for the streaking Heat, who have won a season-best five straight games.

Brook Lopez scored 33 for the Nets, including a career-high seven 3-pointers. Brooklyn (9-36) has lost 14 of 15 and owns the worst record in the NBA.

Hawks 119, Bulls 114

Chicago — Dennis Schroder scored 24 points, Paul Millsap added 21 and Atlanta ended the game on a 19-4 run to beat Chicago.

Thabo Sefolosha scored 18 and Tim Hardaway Jr. added 17, hitting four of his team’s 17 3-pointers as the Hawks pulled out their seventh straight win against Chicago.

Thunder 114, Pelicans 105

New Orleans — Russell Westbrook had 27 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, passing Larry Bird with his 60th career triple-double, and Oklahoma City beat New Orleans.

Pelicans All-Star Anthony Davis left late in the second quarter after re-aggravating a right thigh injury that kept him out of New Orleans’ upset of Cleveland on Monday night.

Grizzlies 101, Raptors 99

Memphis, Tenn. — Marc Gasol scored a career-high 42 points, including the deciding two free throws with 36 seconds left, as Memphis sent Toronto to its fifth straight loss.

Gasol’s final free throws ended a 12-0 run by the Raptors that tied the game at 99-all.

Sixers 114, Bucks 109

Milwaukee — Despite playing without leading scorer Joel Embiid for the second consecutive game, Philadelphia held off Milwaukee to win for the fifth time in six games.

Gerald Henderson led the 76ers with 20 points, Ersan Ilyasova and Dario Saric added 17 apiece, and the 76ers scored a season-high 72 points in the first half.