Shaking off their first lack of the season, the Boston Celtics acquired proper again on observe and defeated the Charlotte Hornets, 124-109, at Spectrum Middle on Friday evening.
Boston paid just a few previous mates a go to on the highway, doing so with out Al Horford (load administration) which opened the door for Neemias Queta minutes off the bench. It wasn’t simple, particularly within the second quarter as soon as the Hornets discovered their sizzling hand, however the Celtics overcame a valiant effort from the second-to-worst staff within the Jap Convention final season to bounce again within the first of two within the Buzz Metropolis.
Listed below are three studs and three duds from Boston’s win over Charlotte:
STUDS
Jayson Tatum
The scoring chief division was crammed by Tatum, who for the fourth time this season, recorded a double-double by scoring a game-leading 32 factors and grabbing 11 rebounds — to associate with three assists, three steals and a block. Tatum shot 9-of-19 from the sector, together with 3-of-9 from 3-point territory with one expensive blemish: Tatum dedicated a game-high 5 turnovers. However… Tatum helped make up by aiding Boston’s free-throw benefit (29 makes) over Charlotte (six makes) by going 13-for-15 from the charity stripe.
LaMelo Ball
When sizzling, Ball is likely one of the most harmful, artful, hard-to-defend guards within the league. Charlotte benefitted from Ball’s discovering his contact at well timed spurts all through the evening because the 23-year-old completed with a Hornets-leading 31 factors on 12-of-25 taking pictures from the sector with 4 assists and a steal.
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Neemias Queta
It’s not simple filling the frontcourt void left by the absences of Kristaps Porzingis and Horford, however Queta offered the Celtics with a productive 23 minutes on the ground. The 25-year-old shot an ideal 6-for-6 from the ground, scoring 12 factors with six rebounds and one help off the bench.
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DUDS
Boston’s second-quarter protection
Offense wasn’t a problem for the Celtics, however on the opposite finish, the Hornets had been buzzing proper behind them. Boston’s protection surrendered 42 factors to Charlotte within the second quarter, together with 9 3-pointers as ex-Celtics high assistant and present Hornets head coach Charles Lee ripped a web page proper out of Joe Mazzulla’s playbook.
Charlotte (44.8%) out-shot Boston (36%) from past the arc within the first half, though the Celtics carried the 71-67 halftime benefit.
Payton Pritchard
For the previous 4 video games, Pritchard had been the red-hot hand coming off the bench for Boston and filling the void that — for 3 video games — was the absence of out of doors sharpshooter Sam Hauser. However in Charlotte, Pritchard cooled off and didn’t present the Celtics with any manufacturing from past the arc, taking pictures 0-for-5 from three and ending with 4 factors on 1-of-6 taking pictures general in 28 minutes.
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Grant Williams
One other acquainted face, Williams performed half-hour off the bench and made little to no distinction on the ground. Williams scored six factors on 2-of-6 taking pictures, all from three, with seven rebounds and three assists, ending a minus-7. It’s additionally value mentioning that Williams thought-about, however refused to ask his previous Celtics teammates over to his Charlotte residence on Thursday evening, and as an alternative elbow-checked Tatum within the fourth quarter.
“We talked final evening simply because I used to be gonna invite them over to my home however I informed them I mentioned I had a date evening with my lady so let’s simply say that trumps them,” Williams informed reporters pregame, per CLNS Media. “… We’d hang around tonight simply because we have now a back-to-back so it’s a singular state of affairs.”
Williams acquired ejected and it’s laborious to think about Tatum — or anybody else from the Celtics — might be desperate to attend a housewarming occasion in Charlotte anytime quickly.
