Bobcats 83, Celtics 81
D.J. White scored 17 points and Dante Cunningham hit the go-ahead basket as the Charlotte Bobcats posted an 83-81 upset over the host Boston Celtics on Friday.
Cunningham hit the decisive 13-footer with 33.9 seconds left as Charlotte (29-42) rallied from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit and pulled within two games of the Indiana Pacers in the race for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
Paul Pierce scored 18 points for Boston (50-21), which has lost six of 10 to fall two games behind Chicago for top seed in the East.
Gerald Henderson made one of two free throws with 15.5 seconds left to give the Bobcats a two-point lead but Boston’s Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett both missed 3-point attempts in the final five seconds.
Henderson scored 15 points and D.J. Augustin tallied 14 for Charlotte, which snapped a four-game losing streak despite being without leading scorer Stephen Jackson (hamstring).
Boston led 75-64 after Delonte West’s layup with 7:41 left before the Bobcats countered with 16 straight points over the following five minutes. The Bobcats took the lead on Henderson’s basket with 3:56 remaining and Henderson hit another shot to conclude the run to give Charlotte a five-point advantage with 2:48 left.
Allen added 14 points for Boston.