BOSTON — Breathing life into their playoff chances, the Boston Celtics blew a 19-point third-quarter lead but held on for a wild 111-103 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday.
Isaiah Thomas scored a career-high 42 points as the Cletics cut Atlanta’s lead in the best-of-seven series to 2-1, with Game 4 set for Sunday night at TD Garden.
The Celtics, who led by 20 in the first half, saw a 19-point lead early in the third quarter evaporate. Atlanta never led by more than one in the chippy affair and the game was tied at 96 when the Celtics took over thanks to a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays by Evan Turner.
The Hawks failed to score a field goal in the final 3:51.
There were three flagrant-one and two technical fouls in the game.
Cavaliers 101, Pistons 91
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Kyrie Irving scored 26 points and LeBron James supplied 20 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists as Cleveland took a 3-0 lead in their first-round playoff series against Detroit.
Kevin Love had 20 points and 12 rebounds for the top-seeded Cavaliers, who can close out the Eastern Conference series in Game 4 on Sunday night.
Tristan Thompson added eight points and 10 rebounds and Matthew Dellavedova chipped in 12 points for Cleveland, which made 12 of 29 3-pointers after tying the NBA postseason record with 20 made 3s in Game 2.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 18 points and Marcus Morris tossed in 16 for Detroit. Andre Drummond added 17 points and seven rebounds, but Reggie Jackson was held to 13 points with 12 assists.