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Key Moment
The Boston Celtics took control of this game when the Charlotte Hornets lost their collective mind.
Charlotte literally gifted the Celtics five key points during the final 13.2 seconds of the third quarter of Wednesday night’s matchup. Those five points changed the game and turned what was a four-point lead for Boston into a nine-point lead. The C’s only added to their advantage from that moment on.
All five points during the brief-yet-critical run were scored from the free-throw line, and that was thanks to three mindless fouls committed by the Hornets.
First, Montrezl Harrell committed a most obvious foul on Daniel Theis by grabbing and holding onto Theis’ jersey as Theis headed in the opposite direction from him. Theis’ jersey stretched out a good foot, which prompted a whistle, which prompted two makes at the strip by the Celtics big man.
Next, after LaMelo Ball misfired on a 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds left in the quarter, Kelly Oubre Jr. inexplicably fouled Jayson Tatum as Tatum grabbed the rebound and transitioned toward midcourt for a desperation heave. To compound the poor decision, Oubre Jr. was also whistled for a technical foul after the fact. Tatum converted on all three free throws to make it an 87-78 game.
Boston cruised from that point on by scoring the first 11 points of the fourth quarter as well to pull ahead by 20 points. The lead never dropped below 14 the rest of the way before the Celtics closed out a 115-101 win.
Key Player
He just. Keeps. Doing it.
Just three days after dropping 54 points on the Brooklyn Nets, Jayson Tatum followed it up with 44 points against the Charlotte Hornets. That’s 98 points over the course of two games, which ties Kevin McHale for the Celtics record for most points scored over a two-game span.
This offensive performance was a masterpiece of efficiency. Tatum shot 16-for-26 from the field, good for 66.7 percent. Charlotte’s entire starting lineup combined to make only 10 more shots than Tatum made all by himself. He also canned six of his nine 3-point attempts and all six of his free throws.
Tatum stuffed the rest of the stat sheet as well; not in an eye-popping way, but in an effective way. The 24-year-old, three-time All-Star also contributed five rebounds, three assists, three steals and one blocked shot during his 37-plus minutes of action.
Box Score Nuggets
- All five of Boston's starters scored in double-figures.
- Jayson Tatum scored a game-high 44 points.
- Boston limited the Hornets to 42.9 percent shooting from the field and 25 percent shooting from long range.
- The Celtics grabbed 16 offensive rebounds, seven of which were hauled in by Robert Williams.
- Derrick White led all reserves in scoring with 11 points.
- Boston tallied 30 assists, compared to just 18 by Charlotte.
- The Hornets scored 11 points off of Boston's 11 turnovers.
- Marcus Smart led the game with nine assists, while Derrick White dished out eight off the bench.
- White and Grant Williams each finished as plus-22s in the plus/minus category.
- Miles Bridges and P.J. Washington led Charlotte with 17 points apiece.
- Al Horford (10 points and 10 rebounds) and Robert Williams (11 points and 11 rebounds) each logged clean double-doubles.
- Former Celtics point guard Terry Rozier led the game with five steals.
Quote of the Night
Derrick White on competing with Marcus Smart to take charges