BOSTON — The scoring of Isaiah Thomas, Kelly Olynyk, Avery Bradley and Evan Turner drove the Boston Celtics to their second win in 24 hours, a 107-96 victory over the Orlando Magic on Monday night.
After ending a four-game losing streak with a win at Philadelphia on Sunday, the Celtics handed the Magic their 11th consecutive regular-season loss at TD Garden, their 12th in a row counting playoffs.
The four players combined for 88 points as the Celtics kept pace in the scramble for spots No. 3 through 6 in the Eastern Conference — with Boston (41-30) moving into a virtual tie with the Miami Heat for fourth place with the win.
Thomas, recording his 10th straight 20-point game, scored 28 points and added seven assists and five rebounds. Olynyk scored 22 points in 21 minutes off the bench. Bradley also scored 22 and grabbed nine rebounds, and Turner posted 16 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Amir Johnson had 11 points and 11 rebounds and blocked three shots in his sixth double-double of the season. Olynyk had his best scoring game since Dec. 11.
The Magic (29-41) lost for the eighth time in 10 games and dropped to 4-17 on the road in the 2016 portion of their schedule.
Victor Oladipo continued his hot scoring with 25 points, while three others — Evan Fournier, Aaron Gordon and Andrew Nicholson all scored 13 in the loss.
Thomas, Olynyk and Bradley combined for 44 of Boston’s 56 points as the Celtics jumped to an early lead, blew it and took it back to lead by seven at the break.
The Celtics’ biggest lead of the first half was 10 points, and they got the margin back to 10 midway through the third quarter — Thomas scoring eight points in the first 5:58 of the second half. The little guard then set up Turner for a 3-pointer that made the lead 11, and Turner set up Olynyk and it was 13.
The Magic cut it to seven, but Turner hit two baskets and Olynyk two free throws after getting fouled on a steal. Boston led by 13 after going 13-for-18 from the floor in the third quarter, but the Celtics hit just one of their first 10 shots in the fourth quarter to keep the game close.
Boston never trailed after taking a 37-35 lead in the second quarter.
NOTES: Orlando’s 105-100 loss at Toronto on Sunday night was the Magic’s 13th defeat of the season by five points or fewer. “It actually drives me crazy when I think about it, but it’s too late now, we can’t change anything,” F Evan Fournier said. … Orlando G Victor Oladipo came averaging 28.5 points in the past four games, including a career-high 45-point game. “He’s been a pain for me since I was in college, he was Indiana and I was at Butler,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. However, Oladipo averaged just 11 points on 7-of-19 shooting in his previous two games against the Celtics after scoring 19 the first time the teams met. … Celtics F Jonas Jerebko returned after missing two games with a sore left foot. … The Magic were outrebounded in seven of the previous eight games without injured F/C Nikola Vucevic, surrendering an average of 10.8 offensive boards.
Cavaliers 124, Nuggets 91
CLEVELAND — LeBron James had 33 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, and the Cleveland Cavaliers clinched the Central Division title with a 124-91 victory Monday night against the Denver Nuggets.
Cleveland (50-20) sealed the fifth division title in team history and also secured its ninth 50-win season.
James registered his second triple-double of the season and the 41st of his career.
Cavs forward Channing Frye scored 14 points as a replacement for Kevin Love, who did not play because he was ill. J.R. Smith scored 15 points, and Matthew Dellavedova had 10 points and seven assists off the bench. Kyrie Irving finished with eight points and three assists.
“I think a 50-win season in this league, it’s not every year you can do that,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “It just shows the hard work the guys have put in to get to this point.”
The Cavs built a 19-point lead in the first quarter before the bench gave it all back in the second. The Nuggets scored 17 consecutive points in the second while the Cavs went scoreless for more than six minutes. Will Barton scored 16 of his team-high 27 points in the second quarter for Denver.
The Cavs led by as many as 31 in the fourth quarter after trailing by as many as 33 on Saturday in an embarrassing loss at Miami. That is the way it has been all season for the Cavs, who despite their struggles still hold the top spot in the Eastern Conference with three weeks left in the regular season.
“All is not bad,” Lue said. “We’re still growing, we’re still getting better on a night-to-night basis and we can celebrate this, but we gotta keep moving forward.”
Nikola Jokic, Gary Harris and Jusuf Nurkic each scored 11 points for the Nuggets, whose starters totaled 33 points — the same figure James totaled by himself.