Celtics end skid with win over Washington

The Celtics got past the Wizards, 107-96, at the TD Garden on Friday night for a much-needed victory after four consecutive losses to the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors and Portland Trail Blazers.

BOSTON – They had not lost five straight games since early in the 2014-15 season, not long before Rajon Rondo was traded away.

 The Celtics were faced with the possibility of their first five-game losing streak since then on Friday night when they were struggling against the sub-.500 Washington Wizards.

 Early in the fourth quarter, the Celtics were behind by a point and were having their problems containing Bradley Beal.

 But a 14-2 run that was keyed by Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier got the Celtics going and enabled them to win for the first time since the NBA All-Star break.

 The Celtics got past the Wizards, 107-96, at the TD Garden for a much-needed victory after four consecutive losses to the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors and Portland Trail Blazers.

 “We needed a win, there’s no question about it,’’ said coach Brad Stevens.

 Said Marcus Smart: “It was amazing to see some shots going down. It was good to get the win, good to see everybody playing together, good to see everybody feeling good. We just felt like ourselves.’’

 Seven players reached double figures for the Celtics, led by Al Horford, who had 14 of his 18 points in the first half.

 Marcus Morris added 17 points with nine rebounds and Marcus Smart scored 16 points, hitting all four of his 3-pointers and going 6 for 7 from the field.

 Kyrie Irving added 13 points and 11 assists. Irving recorded his 16th double-double and his previous career-high was eight double-doubles two seasons ago.

 Irving has the most double-doubles by a Celtics guard since Rondo had 20 in the 2012-13 season.

 Brown also scored 13 points, getting 11 of them in the fourth quarter when the Celtics needed a spark. Daniel Theis was effective off the bench with 11 points, five rebounds and three steals while Jayson Tatum added 10 with eight rebounds.

 Beal scored 29 points but was limited to just two in the fourth quarter when the Celtics too control.

 The Wizards moved in front, 86-85, with 10:56 remaining, but the Celtics responded with that 14-2 spree over a span of 6:05. They held the Wizards to just a Beal dunk by playing stifling defense, and the Wizards missed 14 of 20 shots and had seven turnovers in the quarter.

 “That one stretch of defense separated the game,’’ said Stevens. “That was fun to see. I thought the guys really got into the ball. They made it tough, they made hustle plays and it led to some easy baskets and we fed off of that.’’

 Said Smart: “We needed to get back to this, making guys really shaky with the ball, just imposing our will. We did that tonight and we’ve got to continue that.’’

 Brown started the run with two foul shots, Tatum hit a jumper, Theis scored on a dunk, Brown added another basket and Terry Rozier had back-to-back baskets.

 The Celtics were in front, 82-81, going into the fourth quarter after allowing 36 points in the third quarter.

 They led by as many as eight points in that quarter with Morris scoring nine of his points, but Beal was getting to the basket and scored 11 while Jabari Parker scored five points in the final 1:06 to make it a one-point game.

 Despite shooting 61 percent in the quarter, the Celtics were unable to open any distance.

 Smart provided a spark in the third quarter with a pair of 3-pointers.

 After building a 15-point lead during the first quarter, the Celtics found themselves trailing, 45-44, late in the second quarter.

The Wizards went on a 16-4 run in just over four minutes with the Celtics limited to only a pair of layups by Horford in that stretch.

 Horford scored inside again with 1:11 to go in the half and Irving added a 3-pointer with 46.5 seconds remaining to give the Celtics a 49-45 halftime edge.

 The Wizards were close despite shooting just 33 percent from the field as Beal (16) kept them within range.

 The Celtics had a 10-1 lead less than three minutes into the game and opened that 15-point bulge at 23-8 with 2:57 to go in the first quarter, though the Wizards were within 30-20 by the end of the period.

 The ball was moving with eight assists on 11 field goals and Horford (eight points) and Theis (seven) led the offense with Irving handing out five assists.

 The Wizards did not get their first field goal until a Beal dunk near the midway point of the opening quarter, and he finished with 10 points in the first 12 minutes.

 Jim Fenton may be reached at jfenton@enterprisenews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFenton_ent.