Boston Crushes Hornets

The Charlotte Hornets were victims of Jason Tatum and the Boston Celtics, losing 115-101 on Wednesday.

Just three days after Tatum scored 54 points against the Brooklyn Nets, the All-Star exploded for another 44 points versus the Hornets, extending their winning streak to four straight games.

The Celtics opened the first quarter with a balanced attack and were up 8-6 after two and a half minutes of play, with four players having two points each. Both teams came out with a hot hand from the field, but Boston led 12-10 after almost four minutes. Marcus Smart had three assists on the Celtics first six possessions and Jaylen Brown had two.

The Hornets held the Celtics without a three-point field goal throughout the quarter. There were multiple possessions where Boston crashed the offensive board and got second chance points. The Hornets kept up with the Celtics for the majority of the opening frame, but an 8-0 run by the visitors, dug the Hornets into a seven point hole, 29-22 at the end of one.

LaMelo Ball turned the ball over on two of the Hornets first three trips down the court to start the second quarter, his fifth and sixth of the half. Isaiah Thomas’ number was called and he gave a spark to the team. He scored five quick points off the bench as part of a 16-3 surge, to slice the deficit to two and forced Celtics coach Ime Udoka to call a timeout.

The Celtics responded, out of the timeout and answered with a run of their own. Some shots in the paint area and a shot from downtown by PJ Washington, narrowed the lead to four by halftime, 52-48.

Miles Bridges opened the scoring in the second half with a three, his first points of the night. The duo of Bridges and Ball scored all of the Hornets first 14 points of the quarter as they took the lead with six minutes remaining in the third. Bridges was in attack mode and got deep in his bag with some spectacular dribbling and finishes at the basket.

The offense started to come unglued, when the Hornets bench players entered the game and they depended too much on isolation basketball. Boston built a small lead, but the Hornets whittled it down to four in the late stages of the quarter. The Celtics were awarded five free throws in the final 13 seconds and connected on all of them, pushing the lead to nine going into the fourth, 87-78.

Cody Martin went 0-3 to start the final stanza for the Hornets. Tatum hit a sidestep three in the corner to reach 30, extending Boston’s lead to 15. Immediately on the next possession, he drained another three in a defender’s face, giving Boston an 18-point lead, and the Celtics scored nine straight points to blow the game wide open. Tatum was responsible for most of those points, as he became the second consecutive Hornets opposition to top 40 points in a game. From that point on, the game became mostly a show case for Boston. The Hornets made just 8-of-25 three-point shots and turned the ball over 16 times, with just 18 assists.

Tatum had a game-high 44 points for the Celtics. He also had five rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block. Jaylen Brown finished with 15 points, five boards and five helpers. Marcus Smart contributed 12 points, three rebounds and nine dimes. Robert Williams III had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. He also had one assist, one steal and two rejections. Derrick White also scored 11 points, with three rebounds, eight assists, two steals and three blocks off the bench.

Bridges finished with 17 points, five boards, two assists, one steal and one block. Washington also scored 17 points, had four rebounds, one assist and two blocks. Ball contributed 15 points, eight rebounds, four dimes and one rejection. Terry Rozier added 14 points, with one rebound, three assists and five steals.

The Celtics host Jerami Grant and the Detroit Pistons on Friday. The Hornets travel to New Orleans to face Trey Murphy III and the Pelicans on Friday.