The Charlotte Bobcats ended Boston’s seven-game winning streak as Byron Mullens scored 25 points and had 18 rebounds in a 94-91 win over the Celtics on Monday.
Kevin Garnett had 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Celtics, but missed a key 18-foot shot that would have given Boston the lead late in the game. Paul Pierce and Avery Bradley had chances to send the game into overtime in the final seconds, but missed open 3-pointers.
Ramon Sessions had 19 points for the Bobcats, including the go-ahead jumper from 18 feet with 25.7 seconds left.
Minnesota’s Luke Ridnour scored 21 points and Ricky Rubio added 13 and 10 assists as the Timberwolves downed the Cleveland Cavaliers 100-92 to end an eight-game losing streak on the road.
Nikola Pekovic added 16 points and 10 rebounds as Minnesota ended a four-game losing streak and improved to just 4-16 since losing center Kevin Love with a broken hand.
Kyrie Irving scored 20 points and Tristan Thompson had 16 for the Cavaliers.
Chris Paul scored 21 points and made 11 assists, and Blake Griffin scored 20 points at Philadelphia as the Los Angeles Clippers cruised past the 76ers 107-90.
Jamal Crawford also scored 20 points and Matt Barnes had 11 for the Pacific Division-leading Clippers. Nick Young led the Sixers with 29 points.
At Indianapolis, Brook Lopez scored 25 points as the Brooklyn Nets opened overtime with a 9-3 run to pull away and down the Indiana Pacers 89-84.
The Pacers appeared to swing the game with a 7-0 run that gave them a 76-72 lead with 1:38 left in regulation. But Brooklyn scored the final four points to force overtime and started fast in the extra period to put away the game.
New Orleans won for the third time in eight games as Ryan Anderson scored 31 points, and Robin Lopez had 23 points and 10 rebounds in the Hornets’ 105-86 victory over the Detroit Pistons.
Reserve Rodney Stuckey led Detroit with 19 points, but most came after the game had been decided. Greg Monroe added 17 points and 11 rebounds.
In other games; rookie Brandon Beal scored a season-high 28 points to help the Washington Wizards to a rare 102-90 road win over the Milwaukee Bucks, the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Chicago Bulls 103-89 as Kawhi Leonard had a career-high 26 points, and Josh Smith had 26 points and 13 rebounds as the Atlanta Hawks edged the Dallas Mavericks 105-101.
