Brooklyn — Jae Crowder scored nine of his 24 points late in the fourth quarter, Avery Bradley had 16 overall, and the Boston Celtics edged the Brooklyn Nets 98-95 on Friday night.
Al Horford added 14 points and eight rebounds for the Celtics, who were playing without All-Star Isaiah Thomas. Boston's point guard sat the first game of a two-game road trip. Thomas, second in the NBA in scoring with 29.2 points per game, bruised his right knee in Wednesday night's win over the Minnesota Timberwolves after a hard fall.
Boston moved within two games of the idle Cleveland Cavaliers for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
Crowder, who also had 12 rebounds, hit a 3-pointer to give Boston an 88-85 lead with 3:36 left in the fourth, and then drove baseline for a dunk to extend the lead to 90-85 before he was fouled by Brooklyn's Spencer Dinwiddie with 2:51 remaining. After a Nets timeout, Crowder completed the three-point play with a free throw to extend the lead to six points.
Brook Lopez led the Nets with 23 points and Randy Foye added 14 for Brooklyn.
After Horford's 19-foot jumper made it 93-85, Lopez and Dinwiddie led an 8-0 run to cut Boston's lead to just two, 93-91, with 44 seconds left.
A pair of free throws by Marcus Smart made it 95-91 before Jeremy Lin knocked down a 12-foot shot that drew the Nets within two again with 16 seconds to go.
Smart then made a pair of free throws that extended Boston's lead before Foye drew the Nets within two points with a layup. Bradley then hit the second of two free throws to cap the scoring.