Celtics take care of business beating the Hornets 124-109
On Friday night in Charlotte the 4-1 Boston Celtics take on the 2-2 Hornets coming off a win against the Toronto Raptors. Boston would be without veteran big man Al Horford who got the night off with another game in Charlotte tomorrow night. The Hornets superstar Lamelo Ball has been off to a great start to the season averaging 28.5 ppg, 7.0 APG and 6.0 rebounds through the early season. Ball would be without Brandon Miller who would miss the game due to injury. A tough matchup for a young Hornets team against the defending champs coming off a loss.
First Quarter:
Boston would come out hot in the first quarter looking to bounce back after an overtime loss in Indiana on Wednesday night. The Celtics defense and 3-point shooting were their biggest weaknesses against Indiana and they clearly wanted to right those wrongs early in Charlotte. Jayson Tatum who struggled from 3 in Indiana came out with a purpose in Charlotte. Tatum had 16 points in the first quarter on 5/9 shooting going 2/4 from beyond the arc as well.
For Charlotte their superstar Lamelo Ball was going to have his hands full all night with Boston’s defensive back court of Holiday, White and Brown the best in the league. Lamelo would still rack up 7 points in the first quarter but it was all Boston through one. The Celtics shot 52% in the first quarter leading to a 40-25 advantage after one.
Second Quarter:
Charlotte would immediately look to cut into Boston’s lead to start the second, going on a 12-4 run to start the quarter. Fueled by 7 quick points from Lamelo Ball doubling his first quarter total forcing Joe Mazzulla to take an early timeout with 9:45 to go in the half.
Small concern for Celtics fans early in the second as Jayson Tatum was getting his hand looked at during the timeout but he would return to action. Boston would continue to show why they’re the defending Champs every time Charlotte tried to make it close. This time it was Jaylen Brown getting going scoring 10 of his own points halfway through the second quarter to make it 58-43 Celtics with 6:49 left in the half.
The Celtics lead would stay at 4 to end the first half leading 71-67, led by 18 from Tatum and 16 for Brown. Once again Boston’s defense was up to their usual standard and they were allowing Charlotte to hang around after scoring 40 in the second quarter. Lamelo Ball racked up 12 of his own in the second quarter and would need to keep it up to hang with Boston in the second half. For the second straight game Boston allowed 67 first half points and they now ranked 21st in the league in first half defense a concerning trend early in the season.
Third Quarter:
Both teams would come out a little sloppy to start the second half with the first basket coming almost 3 minutes into the third. Charlotte would continue to hang around like they did all first half keeping the same 4 point deficit they had at half through the first 4 minutes of the third. Boston had gone ice cold from 3 and was looking for a spark to get their offense and defense going.
Jaylen Brown was now 1-20 over his last 3 games from beyond the arc, he was still getting his points inside the arc but with the way the Celtics want to play this was a somewhat troubling development for Jaylen and the Celtics. But the beauty of the Celtics dominance is even when a player of Brown’s stature is struggling they have another star in Jayson Tatum there to pick up the slack.
Tatum would score easily in back to back possessions to give Boston an 82-74 lead with 6:29 remaining in the third. Both teams would continue to trade blows as they had all night through the last 6 minutes of the third. Boston would continue to struggle from deep and their overall team defense was still lacking. The Celtics would head to the 4th leading 92-86 looking to get back in the win column and take the first of two from Charlotte.
Fourth Quarter:
Charlotte would get a somewhat unexpected boost from their rookie Tidjane Salaun scoring 9 of his own including a few early in the 4th trying to keep the Hornets close. Lamelo Ball’s great night would continue as well as he hit a 3 pointer to make it 96-94 at the 10:30 mark of the 4th.
The Lamelo Ball show would continue in the 4th quarter with Ball hitting a 3 pointer to make it 100-99 Boston with 7:57 left in the game. Ball was now up to 31 points in the game and counting, Boston’s frustrations were starting to boil over with Joe Mazzulla getting a techincal after some offensive foul calls on Queta. It wasn’t just Celtics frustration though as Boston would start to pull away late in the 4th Hornets head coach Charles Lee would get a technical after he disagreed with some calls. Leading to a Celtics free throw giving Boston a 110-101 lead with just over 4 minutes left in the game.
This game was a perfect example of talent winning out in the NBA. Boston didn’t have their A game all night but their collective talent and winning culture prevailed in the 4th quarter. The Hornets are an up and coming team with talented pieces but are still figuring out how to play as a team. Charlotte deserves credit for hanging with Boston all night and making them work.
The Celtics would pull away in the final 4 minutes of the game, former Celtic Grant Williams and Jayson Tatum would have an ugly collision with a little over 2 minutes to go in the game. Tatum would get up quickly and Brown would get right in Williams face afterwards, the foul would be reviewed and deemed a flagrant 2 ejecting Grant Williams from the game. Boston was already leading by 9 so this foul all but sealed their fate, after free throws Boston was leading 116-105 with 2 minutes to go in the game. Things would just go from bad to worse for Charlotte with Lamelo Ball immediately fouling Jayson Tatum on a 3 point attempt giving Boston 3 more free throws and the game was now officially over for Charlotte.
Boston would score 11 straight points in 67 minutes in the final stretch of the game to ensure Charlotte’s fate after their boneheaded decision making. Boston would win by a final margin of 124-109 and move to 5-1 on the season. Boston and Charlotte are right back at it tomorrow night. The Celtics should have big man Al Horford back in the lineup after getting the night off tonight and they will hope he helps steady their defense. Boston is the best team in the league and Charlotte will have their hands full again tomorrow night needing a full 4th quarter effort to take one from the Celtics.
