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Lopez, Nets win fifth straight with stunner over Boston

Mar 15, 2011 - 3:58 AM Newark, NJ (Sports Network) - Brook Lopez led all scorers with 20 points, as the New Jersey Nets won their fifth straight after holding off the Boston Celtics, 88-79, at the Prudential Center.

Kris Humphries posted a double-double, finishing with 16 points and 15 rebounds for the Nets, who have won five in a row for the first time since December 28 - January 5 of the 2007-08 campaign.

"It was really a good game out there tonight," said Lopez. "But our bench and our defense was able to keep up and it was a good win for us."

Deron Williams had a solid game with 16 points, nine assists and six rebounds in the victory.

Ray Allen had a team-best 19 points for Boston, which had won nine of 12 games coming into the contest. Kevin Garnett had 18 points and eight rebounds, while Glen Davis contributed 16 points and 14 rebounds off the bench for the Celtics.

"This league is about runs and they made a big run on us," said Garnett. "When they needed shots they made them and we couldn't get a stop on them."

The Nets led 67-61 after three quarters and extended their advantage to 12 early in the fourth.

However, the Celtics woke up and fought back to get within two after Paul Pierce made a pair of free throws to make it a 79-77 game with 4:28 left.

With New Jersey still ahead by two a short time later, Rajon Rondo missed a medium-range jumper that could have pulled Boston even with 1:35 left and the Nets put the game away.

Lopez hit a short base-line hook shot and after the Celtics came up empty on their next trip, Williams drained a triple to give New Jersey an 86-79 lead with 35.6 seconds left and it held on from there.

Boston scored the last 14 points of the first quarter to grab a 23-14 lead and the Celtics would be ahead by seven after a Davis layup approaching the midway point of the second.

Anthony Morrow and Williams each hit a three-pointer sandwiched around Lopez's driving layup to give the Nets a brief one-point lead with 4:14 left before the half.

However, the Celtics ran off the next five points and settled for a 38-36 lead at the break.

The third quarter was a back-and-forth battle, but Morrow and Sundiata Gaines made consecutive triples as part of a 7-0 run to finish the period and put New Jersey ahead 67-61 after three.

Game Notes

Despite the loss, Boston still won three of the four meetings versus New Jersey this season and is 15-2 in its last 17 games against the Nets...Morrow ended with 15 points for the Nets, who also got 12 points and six boards from Travis Outlaw in a reserve role...New Jersey shot 39.7 percent from the field and 11-of-25 from three-point range...Boston, which dropped to 19-12 on the road this season, made 41.2 percent of its shots, but only 2-of-10 from beyond the arc.