BOSTON — Isaiah Thomas scored 20 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter and the Boston Celtics pulled away late for a 117-108 win over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night.
Al Horford added 16 points and nine rebounds for the Celtics, who won for the fifth time in six games and ended Washington’s three-game winning streak. Jae Crowder scored 20 and Terry Rozier had 11.
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WHO: Celtics at Hawks
WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday
TV: CSN, ESPN
Bradley Beal led Washington with 35 points. Otto Porter Jr. scored 20 and Markieff Morris finished with 14.
Boston held John Wall to a season-low nine points. The star guard did have 10 assists for the Wizards, who fell to 19-19 a day after moving above .500 for the first time since November 2015.
The game got chippy several times and included five technical fouls – two of them on Boston for 3-second violations. Another was on Beal, who went at it verbally and physically with Marcus Smart right up to the end.
Smart and Beal got tangled up under the Washington basket and both fell to the floor. Officials and teammates separated the two as they got up and exchanged words. Smart was called for a foul and Beal received a technical.
Thomas made the foul shot to pull Boston to 68-66, but the Wizards responded with an 11-3 run. Morris started it with back-to-back jumpers, including a 3-pointer, and Porter and Marcin Gortat added putbacks as Washington continued controlling the boards and led 79-69.
Boston pulled to 85-83 at the end of the third and regained the lead early in the fourth on a three-point play by Thomas.
Thomas scored eight straight points, including back-to-back 3s, to put Boston up 98-91, but the Wizards answered with their own 8-0 run to regain the lead.
Porter gave the Wizards a 99-98 edge with 5:36 left, but Horford got it right back for Boston with 5:12 left to start a 13-0 run for the Celtics. Thomas followed with a layup and Rozier hit a 3 to put the Celtics up 105-99.
After a miss by Beal, the Celtics took it the other way for another 3-pointer by Thomas for a 108-99 lead with 3:24 to go. Thomas was cheered on during his surge by buddy Floyd Mayweather Jr., the retired champion boxer sitting in the front row. Thomas added another 3 and Horford hit from beyond the arc for a 111-99 lead.
NOTES: Boston shot 72 percent (13 of 18) from the floor in the first quarter, including 8 of 11 on 3-pointers, and led 36-35 after one. … G Avery Bradley (right Achilles strain) was one of five players out for the Celtics. Also sidelined were James Young (right ankle sprain), Tyler Zeller (sinus infection), Amir Johnson (sprained right ankle) and Jaylen Brown (sprained ankle). Smart started at shooting guard for Bradley, and Jordan Mickey replaced Johnson for his first career start.
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