Kemba Walker had 36 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, and the Charlotte Hornets rallied from an 18-point fourth-quarter deficit for a stunning 124-117 victory over the visiting Boston Celtics on Saturday night.

The Hornets closed out the game on a 30-5 run after falling behind 112-94 with 8:21 left in the fourth quarter. Walker keyed it all, and his 3-pointer with 1:19 remaining gave his team the lead for good.

Charlotte (33-39) has now won two straight, while the Celtics (43-30) have lost three in a row.

The Hornets also got 20 points from Miles Bridges, 13 each from Marvin Williams and Malik Monk, and 11 from Dwayne Bacon. Williams hit four free throws in the final 41.2 seconds to help salt away the win.

Kyrie Irving led the Celtics with 31 points, and Jaylen Brown scored 29 off the bench. Marcus Morris scored 15, and Terry Rozier and Jayson Tatum finished with 12 points each.

Both teams were severely short-handed. The Celtics were without Al Horford (knee), Gordon Hayward (concussion) and Aron Baynes (ankle), while the Hornets were without Cody Zeller (knee), Nicolas Batum (illness) and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (concussion). The Celtics also lost Robert Williams in the second quarter when Williams fell hard and injured his back.

The Celtics came into the game at the No. 5 spot in the Eastern Conference standings, trailing idle No. 4 Indiana by a half game.

The Hornets entered sitting 10th in the Eastern Conference, 2 1/2 games behind No. 8 Miami and two games behind No. 9 Orlando.

The Celtics led 35-29 after one quarter. They pushed the lead to 56-46 in the second before the Hornets rallied to retake the lead, and the Celtics wound up leading just 64-63 at halftime.

Boston closed the third quarter with an 8-0 run to take a 98-89 lead after three. It then pushed the lead up to 112-94 early in the fourth before the Hornets responded with a 14-0 run.

Irving hit a drive to give the Celtics a 117-113 lead with 1:53 left, but the Hornets scored the last 11 points of the game.

The two teams split the season series 2-2, with all four games won by the home team.

--Field Level Media