NBA: Celtics hold off Pistons, Barea and Felton star as Mavericks beat Bulls

Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley (right) shooting over Detroit Pistons forward Ersan Ilyasova at The Palace of Auburn Hills on Dec 27, 2015. PHOTO: REUTERS/USA TODAY SPORTS - TIM FULLER

DETROIT (REUTERS) - Avery Bradley led a balanced attack with 18 points and the Boston Celtics won their third straight National Basketball Association game by downing the Detroit Pistons 99-93 at The Palace on Saturday.

Point guard Isaiah Thomas contributed 17 points and nine assists and reserve shooting guard Evan Turner supplied 13 points, five rebounds and three assists for Boston (17-13).

The Celtics' starting front court of Jared Sullinger, Amir Johnson and Jae Crowder combined for 33 points and 23 rebounds.

Centre Andre Drummond carried the Pistons (17-14) with 22 points and 22 rebounds, his fifth 20-20 game of the season.

Detroit point guard Reggie Jackson had 17 points, small forward Marcus Morris added 16 and rookie forward Stanley Jackson chipped in 12.

In other NBA games on Saturday:

Wizards 111 Nets 96: John Wall continued his hot December pace with 22 points and 13 assists to lead the Washington Wizards to a 111-96 win over the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center.

Wall, who came into the game averaging 22.8 points and 11.7 assists during the month, posted his fifth consecutive double-double and 15th of the season.

Marcin Gortat had a game-high 25 points and seven rebounds and rookie Jarell Eddie scored 12 points off the bench on 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range in his NBA debut for the Wizards, who won their fourth game in a row.

Raptors 111 Bucks 90: DeMarr DeRozan scored 22 points and Terrance Ross added 21 off the bench as Toronto overcame a third-quarter lull to put away Milwaukee.

DeRozan scored 10 points in the third quarter after Toronto had fallen behind by as many as six and the Raptors opened the fourth with a 17-2 run to go ahead by 13 when Ross sank a three-pointer with 5min 56sec remaining.

Khris Middleton led the Bucks with 20 points and Greg Monroe had a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

76ers 111 Suns 104: Isaiah Canaan scored 22 points and Nick Stauskas had 17 as the Philadelphia 76ers won their second game of the season and for the first time on the road with a 111-104 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

Ish Smith had 14 points and five assists in his first game with the 76ers (2-30) since being acquired from New Orleans on Thursday and Carl Landry had 16 points.

Brandon Knight had 21 points for the Suns, who lost point guard and leading scorer Eric Bledsoe to a left knee sprain with 7:40 remaining in the second quarter.

Trail Blazers 105 Cavaliers 76: Allen Crabbe scored 21 of his career-high 26 points in the first half and Portland blew away Cleveland to end a five-game losing streak.

Forward LeBron James led Cleveland with 12 points, five assists and four rebounds. The Cavaliers shot 36.4 percent from the field a night after hitting just 31.6 percent in an 89-83 loss at Golden State.

Pelicans 110 Rockets 108: Eric Gordon scored a game-high 26 points, including a season-best six three-pointers, and Anthony Davis added 24 points and 13 rebounds to lift New Orleans over Houston.

The Pelicans led by two points with 1.7 seconds left, but Houston had a final chance to either tie or win.

Trevor Ariza was hounded on the inbounds pass by Davis and his desperation heave for Dwight Howard near the top of the key was stolen by Tyreke Evans to secure the victory.

Pacers 102 Timberwolves 88: Monta Ellis had a team-high 22 points and Paul George scored 18 as Indiana topped Minnesota.

Rookie Karl-Anthony Towns led all scorers with 24 points and had eight rebounds for Minnesota. Andrew Wiggins chipped in 19 points and Ricky Rubio had 15 points and nine assists for the Timberwolves.

Hawks 117 Knicks 98: Paul Millsap scored 22 points to lead Atlanta past New York.

The Hawks overcame an early 15-point deficit to win for the sixth straight time. Atlanta has surged into second place in the Eastern Conference, just percentage points behind the first-place Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Knicks were outscored 62-32 in the paint dropped their third straight game.

Hornets 98 Grizzlies 92: Kemba Walker took over down the stretch, scoring 11 straight points in the final five minutes, and Charlotte pulled out a victory over Memphis.

Walker finished with 22 points, eight assists and six rebounds in a game that saw 15 lead changes and 11 ties. His follow shot with 1:55 remaining gave the Hornets the lead for good at 89-88 and snap a three-game losing streak.

Heat 108 Magic 101: Dwyane Wade had 24 points, including 12 in the final five minutes, to lead Miami over Orlando.

Chris Bosh, who had 30 points in an overtime victory over New Orleans on Friday, also had 24 points and 10 rebounds. Goran Dragic added 22 points.

Spurs 101 Nuggets 86: Kawhi Leonard racked up a team-high 20 points and led six San Antonio players scored in double figures as the Spurs remained undefeated at home.

San Antonio has opened the season with a franchise-best mark of 17 consecutive wins at home, a run that is the best home start for a Western Conference team since the Los Angeles Lakers opened the 1988-89 season with 17 straight wins.

Mavericks 118 Bulls 111: J.J. Barea scored 26 points and was practically unstoppable from beyond the arc and Raymond Felton came up big on consecutive plays at both ends late in the game to lead Dallas over Chicago.

Clippers 109 Jazz 104: J.J. Redick scored 25 points and Paul Pierce added 20 points to lead Los Angeles over Utah.

Chris Paul scored 19 points and DeAndre Jordan had 14 points and 13 rebounds for the Clippers, who won their second straight game after losing three in a row.

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