Recap: Celtics Get Back to .500, Smash Charlotte Hornets at Home 116-86
Photo by Brian Babineau | NBAE via Getty Images
Jayson Tatum shook off a slow start to score 22 points, leading six players in double figures as the Boston Celtics beat the Charlotte Hornets 116-86.
Jaylen Brown and Evan Fournier each scored 17, Kemba Walker and Marcus Smart added 12, and Robert Williams chipped in with 16 points and eight rebounds. The Hornets were paced by former Celtic guard Terry Rozier with 22 points and seven rebounds. Devonte’ Graham had 11 points and Miles Bridges had 10 points for Charlotte, who lost their fourth straight against the Celtics.
Rozier started the game off hot by scoring 10 points in the first quarter, but Jaylen Brown kept pace with him by pumping in 11 points. Bridges and Graham added 5 points each as the Hornets led 26-25 after the first quarter. It would be their last lead of the game.
Romeo Langford made his first three-pointer of the season less than a minute into the second period. This gave the Celtics a 28-26 lead, and the offense and defense took off from that point. Evan Fournier scored six points and Tatum found his range to score seven as the Celtics used a 19-4 run to push their lead to 44-30. The defense picked up its intensity and held the Hornets to 17 points in the quarter. Boston held a 58-43 advantage at halftime.
Tatum used his hot shooting to score 15 third quarter points. On top of that, the C’s got eight points from Walker and six points each from Robert Williams and Smart. This helped them race to a 40-27 quarter and go into the fourth with their biggest lead of the game at that point. It was 98-70 and then Tatum hit his third three-pointer of the game at the buzzer to end the third.
The lead got pushed to 30 at 109-79 when Payton Pritchard hit a three-point field goal which allowed him to pass the great Larry Bird for most three-point field goals made in a season by a Celtics rookie. Stevens emptied the bench and the reserves finished off Boston’s second straight win to even their record on this seven-game homestand at 2-2.
Boston seems to finally be finding their footing after making some tweaks at the trade deadline. They have a big test coming up as they take on the red hot Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday at 7:30 PM EST on TNT.
