The Charlotte Hornets made their way to Boston for a two-game set with the defending champion Celtics, with the first game being Friday night.
The leader in the clubhouse for the Sixth Man of the Year Award, Payton Pritchard scored 22 points, Sam Hauser had 20 and the Boston Celtics defeated the Hornets in blowout fashion 130-94 for their 60th victory of the season.
It was a total team effort with Derrick White adding 19 points, Jayson Tatum had 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and the ageless wonder Al Horford had a double-double with 13 points with 11 rebounds for the Celtics (60-21). Boston coach Joe Mazzulla rested his starters in the fourth quarter.
The Hornets resembled a team that fans have not laid their eyes on in quite a while to start off the game. They were doing exactly what they needed to do to win.
Seth Curry led the Hornets with a team-high 17 points and drilled his 82nd 3-pointer, which qualifies him for the NBA’s percentage lead.
The two teams were knotted at 25 after the end of the first quarter, with the Hornets knocking down the same number of threes and sharing the ball and having the same number of assists as the Celtics.
Going into halftime it felt like the Hornets actually had a chance to win, trailing by a single point, 54-53. The Hornets were able to contain Celtics superstar Tatum to 5 points, and the Celtics in general to only 10 three pointers, which is a low mark for the perimeter-oriented team. The Hornets swished nine of their own and were matching the Celtics in assists at 15.
Once the third quarter got underway, the Celtics asserted their dominance and things got out of hand.
Between the 2:32 mark of the second quarter, and the 9:39 mark of the third, the Celtics went on a 19-5 extended run to widen their lead to double digits. The Celtics were able to push the lead to 16 going into the fourth quarter, despite 11 third quarter points on 4-6 shooting from the field, and 3-5 from 3-point range from Curry.
The fourth quarter was more of the same, even though the Celtics lifted their starting five of Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, and Kristaps Porzingis to begin the final stanza.
A 21-3 run that started at the 1:34 mark of the third and ended at the 7:00 mark of the fourth put the game out of reach, and the Hornets trailed by as many as 36 in their lopsided defeat against the reigning champions.
Nick Smith Jr. got off to another hot start, but a groin injury saw him exit the game at halftime. He finished with nine points, four rebounds, and four assists.
With the Hornets loss on Friday, they officially secured top three odds in May’s draft lottery. It is the team’s second straight year with these lottery odds, and in a perfect world for first-year general manager Jeff Peterson, the 2025 lottery balls field different results in such a top-heavy draft class.
This also allows less pressure on Sunday’s game, as it essentially becomes meaningless in the grand scheme of the lottery. Coach Charles Lee’s squad has played hard each game despite the talent deficiency that has been playing, and a win to close out the season could be the boost they need going into a long off season.
As stated previously, the Hornets trailed by the slimmest of margins going into halftime, 54-53. After that they were blitzed by 45 points during the second half, allowing the Celtics to crush the Hornets by 36 points.
Outscoring a team by 45 points in one half alone is insanity. The crazier part is they held the Hornets to only 41 points in the entire second half.
The teams will meet again in Boston on Sunday.
