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Friday, Jan. 7 7:00pm ET
Celtics thwart Kings' comeback plans | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
BOSTON (AP) -- Nick Anderson's 3-point shooting kept bringing Sacramento back. Kenny Anderson's only 3-pointer stopped the final comeback and sealed Boston's win. "I'm not afraid to take a shot to be the hero or the goat," Kenny Anderson said after the Celtics beat the Kings 101-93 Friday night. "I've been in situations like that and I've been coming through." His 3-pointer with two minutes left made the score 99-91. Nick Anderson, in a shooting slump most of the season, shot 6-of-11 from 3-point range and was especially effective at the ends of the last three quarters. He had 24 points and five steals but couldn't do enough to produce a win. "I've been there when you feel like you can't make a shot and sometimes you feel like you can't miss," Nick said. "You just keep working. Something is bound to happen." It nearly did for the Kings as they finished quarters with a flourish after the Celtics built big leads. Boston let a 57-43 lead drop to 59-52 at halftime as Nick Anderson hit two 3-pointers in the 9-2 period-ending run. Boston also let a 76-62 advantage shrink to 77-73 after three quarters as Nick Anderson hit a 3-pointer and a 2-pointer in the 11-1 surge. "We built leads, but that 3-point shot kept getting it down," Boston's Antoine Walker said. "You can't stop them from taking them. You just have to get a hand in their face." Despite Nick Anderson's success, Sacramento failed from 3-point range as the rest of the team missed all 12 of its long shots. Jason Williams was 0-for-7. "We kept digging ourselves a hole," Kings coach Rick Adelman said. "Three or four times we came back and closed the gap, but on the road, (if) you keep doing that it's hard to just get over that hump." Boston won for the third time in four games behind Paul Pierce's 19 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, Walker's 17 and Vitaly Potapenko's 16. Sacramento was led by Nick Anderson with 24 points, Chris Webber with 21 points and 11 rebounds and Vlade Divac with 18 points. The Kings, the NBA's highest scoring team with 105.1 points per game, scored fewer than 100 for the second straight night, losing both times. Webber, suffering from the flu, missed the last 5:31 of the third quarter and the first 1:19 of the fourth. He returned with Boston ahead 81-75 and scored Sacramento's next seven points but by that time the Celtics led 94-82. "They just beat us and took it from us," he said. "It had nothing to do with the sickness." After Kenny Anderson 3-pointer gave Boston an eight-point lead, Divac followed with a layup and Potapenko finished the scoring with a jumper with 26 seconds to go. "We can score on anybody in the league," Kenny Anderson said. "But we've got to stop people like we did tonight." Boston had done that so well that it led 94-79 with 5:36 to go after a 13-2 run. Nick Anderson then sparked a 12-2 surge with two 3-pointers, putting the Kings back in contention at 96-91 with 2:16 remaining before Kenny Anderson made the last 3-pointer. Game notesDana Barros, who missed Boston's last two games with the flu, scored five points. ... Walker scored fewer than 20 points for the second straight game after going over 20 for the previous eight. ... The Kings scored at least 50 points in the first half for the seventh time in nine games. ... Webber had averaged 30.3 points and 10 rebounds in his previous six games. ... Boston beat Sacramento for only the second time in their last seven meetings. Both wins came at home. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Sacramento Clubhouse Boston Clubhouse RECAPS Boston 101 Sacramento 93
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