BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics took their defense from solid in the first half to stifling in the second.Isaiah Thomas scored 16 of his 26 points after halftime and Al Horford had 18 points and five blocked shots as Boston beat the Charlotte Hornets 96-88 on Friday night to stop a three-game slide.Coach just told us we needed to step up our level of energy a little more on the defensive end, Horford said. We did that and that was the big difference.Getting Thomas back after he missed four straight games with a groin strain didnt hurt, either.Thomas scored nine in the third quarter as the Celtics fought back from a 12-point deficit. He added seven in the fourth to help Boston put away the Hornets.We got stops and got running, Thomas said. The one thing we did in the fourth quarter is we just spaced the floor and made plays for each other. Guys hit big shots.Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder added 12 points apiece for the Celtics, who held the Hornets to 13 field goals in the second half.Charlotte played without leading scorer Kemba Walker, who did not travel with the team due to personal reasons, and lost its fourth straight.Although the Hornets outrebounded Boston 54-46, the Celtics outscored them 38-30 in the paint as Charlotte had trouble converting inside.We have to finish some of these plays, coach Steve Clifford said. You get these point-blank ones and you dont have the floor balance in there back the other way. There were two or three of those that were huge plays.Nicolas Batum led the Hornets with 22 points and 10 rebounds.Ramon Sessions had 13 points and six assists, Marco Belinelli scored 11 and Jeremy Lamb added 10 points for the Hornets.Crowder hit a 3 with 6:11 left to put Boston up 80-79 after Charlotte scored seven straight points. Thomas drew a flagrant foul by Belinelli and hit both free throws. Boston retained possession because of the flagrant, and Crowder drew another foul and added two more free throws to put Boston ahead 84-79.Cody Zeller missed from inside for Charlotte, and Thomas came back with a 3-pointer to make it 87-79 with 4:52 left. Charlotte turned it over right away after the inbounds play and Bradley added another 3 that gave Boston a 90-79 cushion with 4:24 to go.After a basket by Belinelli with 6:32 left completed their 7-0 run, the Hornets went scoreless until his layup with 2:20 remaining cut it to 92-81.Boston held Charlotte to five field goals in the third quarter, when the Hornets were 5 of 23.Charlotte closed the second on a 14-4 run and took a 50-41 lead into halftime. The Hornets led 60-48 early in the third when the Celtics started their surge. Kelly Olynyk hit a 3-pointer to tie it at 62 with 3:57 left, and it was tied 69-all at the end of the third.MISSING KEMBASessions started for Walker and had six assists, but the Hornets offense appeared lost without Walker.Hes one of the best in the league, so we missed him a lot tonight, Batum said. We played better tonight overall. But we should have won that game, anyway. No excuses.COLD OUTSIDEAfter shooting 2 of 14 from beyond the arc in the first half, the Celtics started hitting from outside in the third period. They went 7 of 14 on 3-pointers in the second half and held Charlotte to 19 points in each of the final two quarters.WELCOME BACKThomas hadnt played since scoring 20 points against Houston on Dec. 5. The Celtics went 1/3 in the games he missed and were happy to have him leading the offense once again.It helps all of us just because it opens the floor even more. Teams have to play us a little more honest, said Horford, who also had eight rebounds, five assists and two steals. Its just good to have him back.TIP-INSHornets: Walker is averaging 22.6 points per game. He missed his first game this season, but was expected to return when the Hornets visit Atlanta on Saturday night. Walkers absence made Belinelli and Sessions the only Charlotte players to appear in all 27 games this season.Celtics: Jonas Jerebko scored nine points to lead Bostons reserves.UP NEXTHornets: At the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night.Celtics: At the Miami Heat on Sunday night. Los Angeles Angels Store . MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez also will attend the session, which was announced Monday. The league has discussed placing its next two expansion teams in Miami and Atlanta. Custom Los Angeles Angels Jerseys . Jon Montgomerys gold medal in skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre and his subsequent auctioning off of a pitcher of beer in the village square elevated him to folk-hero status. https://www.cheapangels.com/ . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. Angels Jerseys 2019 . Self was acquired from the Buffalo Bandits in a trade for Alex Hill midway through last season, and made his debut in Rochester on March 16, 2013. Angels Jerseys 2020 . -- Team after team passed on Andre Ellington in the draft. All Blacks coach Steve Hansen says SANZAARs decision not to cite Owen Franks over an alleged eye gouge on Wallaby Kane Douglas shows the danger of rushing to judgement without viewing all the angles.Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said he expected Franks to have faced sanction following Saturday nights 29-9 defeat in Wellington, claiming the incident would be pretty hard to miss for match review officials.However, no action was taken on match review, neither team referred any incidents from the match to SANZAAR, and Hansen said he was pleased the correct process had been followed.Youve got to be really, really careful until you see all the views, and social media I think alerted everyone to it, Hansen told reporters on Sunday morning.They certainly dont get all the views.Theres a process and that process is followed and whoever was running it has obviously seen all the angles annd believes theres nothing to answer for.ddddddddddddHansen said the incident where Franks grabbed Wallabies lock Douglas around the head was an unfortunate byproduct of mauling rules and claimed the same thing happened to his players on two or three other occasions.The only way you can get there is through clambering over the top, and then that creates a response, people try and pull them out of the way and the only thing they can use is the head area, he said.Well look at that and try and make sure we dont go around that area because it creates a problem.But if theres no case to answer, theres no case to answer.Hansen said he had nothing to add regarding Cheikas strong post-match comments on the incident.Its been dealt with, end of story, he said. 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