The Charlotte Hornets had an important home win over the Boston Celtics in their run to the playoffs this season. With a 30-30 record, the Hornets now rank eighth in the Eastern Conference, just a game and a half behind the same Celtics, who currently hold sixth place, the last to allow a direct pass to the postseason.
The match got off to a very successful start by the locals, who thanks to some mistakes by the rival quickly put themselves up to a 12-5 lead at the time that Brad Stevens called the first time-out of the game. After the minute of rest, the Hornets continued with a very good hitting streak and managed to escape to fourteen points. A small reaction from the Celtics allowed them not to escape further on the scoreboard, and the first quarter closed with a 33-23 for Charlotte.
The second quarter began with the same dynamic: the locals plugged in, and the visitors with problems on both sides of the field. To add more drama to the Celtics’ afternoon, Kemba Walker ran to the locker room early in the second period with a sore back.
To the reassurance of everyone in Boston, Kemba was able to return to the park, and served so that for now the Celtics could reduce the distance of almost twenty points that the locals obtained, to twelve points. In the final minutes of the quarter, the visitors were able to withstand the onslaught of some Hornets who were still at a high offensive level. At halftime, the score was 63-52 for Charlotte.
Already in the third quarter, the Hornets continued to show great superiority, and came to take an 18-point lead over the Celtics. But Boston did not sit idly by and its offense began to flow thanks to Jaylen Brown and Kemba Walker. The visitors came to narrow the distance to eight points; although at the end of the period the score was 100 to 88 for the local, with an incredible triple on the horn of Miles Bridges from the logo.
In the last quarter, nothing different happened to the rest of the game. The Hornets continued to command clearly, and the Celtics held out as long as they could. The final trigger was a triple by Devonte ‘Graham that put the locals ahead with a 22-point lead, and Brad Stevens decided to take the white flag by sending his reserves to the floor with three minutes to go. The final score was 125 to 104 in favor of those led by James Borrego.
The top scorer of the match was Devonte ‘Graham with 24 points, accompanied by 9 assists. But the Hornets’ magnificent offensive performance had three other players reaching 20 points: PJ Washington had 22 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists; Terry Rozier had 21 points, 5 rebounds and 11 assists; while Miles Bridges finished with 20 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
On the Celtics’ side, their scoring lead was shared between Jaylen Brown and Kemba Walker, with 20 points each. Brown also contributed 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals; while Kemba also recorded 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.
Although Jayson Tatum went somewhat unnoticed, his roster registered good numbers with 19 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists. And Marcus Smart, on the other hand, collected 17 points and 4 assists for his team.
Regarding what is coming, both teams will see action again next Tuesday. The Hornets will be home again and will face the Milwaukee Bucks, while they wait carefully for news about the return of LaMelo Ball. For their part, the Celtics will return to Boston and receive a visit from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
(Cover photo by Jacob Kupferman / Getty Images)
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