Boston, MA – Rajon Rondo amassed his third triple-double of the season to help the Boston Celtics take a 100-89 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Monday.
Rondo had 17 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who are on a season-high six-game winning steak. Paul Pierce scored 19 points with six assists and Avery Bradley gave 16 points in the win.
"They made some shots and the ball bounced to me," said Rondo. "My bigs did a good job of blocking out and I was able to start quickly."
Hakim Warrick and Ramon Sessions each posted 16 points for the Bobcats, who have lost their past four games. Ben Gordon and Kemba Walker each scored 12 points in the loss.
"We're a capable team, so you know we're going to have our moments where we play well, we just have got to be more consistent," said Gordon. "That's kind of been the story of consistence this season. We've shown flashes but you know we haven't been able to sustain them for extended periods of time so that's just something we've got to try and continue to get better at as the season goes on."
Boston scored 13 of the first 15 points of the game, with Rondo's basket just over four minutes in accounting for the 13-2 lead, and never trailed at any stage of the first half.
Charlotte briefly cut the deficit to eight in the opening quarter, but the Celtics followed with the next five points and eventually took a 28-18 lead into the second.
An 8-0 run in the latter half of the second quarter gave the Celtics a 50-32 advantage, but the Bobcats responded with a 9-1 run to get back into it and trailed 56-45 going into the halftime break.
Charlotte came out strong in the third quarter and tied the game at 58-58 about four minutes in after Michael Kidd-Gilchrist slammed the ball home, but Boston scored the next seven points and that allowed the Celtics to take a 76-70 lead into the fourth.
Sessions and Gordon made baskets early in the fourth to cut Charlotte's deficit to four at 78-74, but Boston followed with the next nine points and led by at least six the rest of the way.
Game Notes
It was the 26th triple-double for Rondo in his career. He also accomplished the feat against Philadelphia on Dec. 7 and Atlanta on Jan. 5 ... Boston hosts New Orleans on Wednesday ... Charlotte, which finished a three-game road trip, hosts Indiana on Tuesday ... Boston has won four straight over Charlotte.
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