New Orleans holds off a late Boston charge.

BOSTON (AP) – Baron Davis scored 17 points and P.J. Brown added 12 points and 16 rebounds to lead the New Orleans Hornets to their fourth straight victory, 81-73 over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.

Walter McCarty’s layup drew the Celtics within three at 74-71 with 1:14 remaining, but George Lynch sealed the game with a three-point play when David Wesley passed through three defenders and hit a cutting Lynch under the basket.

Jamaal Magloire had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Hornets, who outrebounded the Celtics 50-31.

Paul Pierce had 23 points for the Celtics. Boston was held to a season-low 73 points and has now dropped six of nine games.

The Hornets won despite shooting 37 percent from the field and 16-of-28 from the foul line.

Eric Williams’ basket with one second remaining in the third quarter cut the Hornets lead to 57-52 and snapped a drought of over six minutes without a basket for Boston. Pierce had 12 in the quarter while Wesley had 10.

Both teams struggled in the first half with no player scoring in double figures. New Orleans shot 32 percent, including 3-of-12 from Baron Davis, and one point from Wesley. Boston turned the ball over 14 times and had 23 for the game while Pierce was held to three points.

Back-to-back alley-oop dunks by David West and Robert Traylor capped a 9-2 run, giving the Hornets their largest lead of the half at 34-25.

Davis shot 6-of-22 from the field and showed signs of fatigue after falling one rebound short of a triple-double against New Jersey Tuesday night.

Notes: New Orleans is one of two teams with a winning record (31-28) against the Celtics. Milwaukee is the other. … While with the Celtics, Wesley scored a career-high 37 points against the Hornets in 1995. … Through the first 11 games, Boston has not been involved in a game when 100 points were scored – the longest such streak for the Celtics since the start of the 1953-54 season.

AP-ES-11-19-03 2140EST