The playoff chase is back in gear as the Celtics came through with a must-win 116-104 road victory over the Charlotte Hornets. Boston’s record is now 33-41, which restores them to 8th place in the East. Charlotte slipped to 11th in the conference, and the Celts also evened the season series with the Hornets at 2-2 for tie-breaking purposes.
Bouncing back from a nightmare showing on Sunday, the Celtics never trailed after early in the 2nd quarter and led by as much as 22. Charlotte pulled to within 4 in the final minute, but the Cs ended it by scoring the last 6 points of the game. Boston had six players in double figures, led by Avery Bradley with 30 points on 12-23 shooting. AB also topped the Cs with 8 rebounds.
The Celts have now won 9 of their last 10 on the second night of back-to-backs, including six straight. This was their third consecutive road victory.
Boston set the tone immediately: After Charlotte’s Gerald Henderson scored to open the game, the Celtics reeled off 10 straight points. In that run was a 20-footer from Marcus Smart – a good sign. In four games since his suspension, Smart had been ice cold. Versus the Clippers on Sunday, he had more stare downs (2) than points (0) while shooting 0-6 in 18 minutes. Tonight, Smart had 14 points on 5-9 shooting, plus 3 steals and a bunch of “wow” plays.
The Cs made 8 of their first 9 shots (mostly jumpers) to lead 17-8. The margin went as high as 11 before Jason Maxiell came off the bench to spark the Hornets with three baskets. However, Jae Crowder scored the last seven Boston points of the quarter and the Celts led at the horn, 26-24.
Charlotte opened the 2nd quarter with 5 in a row to take their first lead, 29-26. The Celts bounced back with the bench contributing. Treys from Isaiah Thomas, Kelly Olynyk and Smart, and a layup and-1 from Jonas Jerebko, restored Boston’s advantage. With the Cs ahead 40-37, the Green then ripped off another 10-point run, highlighted by Bradley’s alley oop pass for a dunk by Gerald Wallace (no lie!). Boston was up 56-44 at the half, led by Bradley’s 11 points and Smart’s 9.
Watch: Gerald Wallace throws it down
Early 3rd quarter, Boston stretched the lead to 18 behind AB’s 8 consecutive points (two treys and an 18-foot jumper). Charlotte responded with a 9-2 run before Evan Turner flipped in an off-balance shot and-1. Boston led 83-61, and when the quarter ended it was 85-69. Bradley put up 15 points in the frame on 6-10 shooting, including 3-5 treys.
In the 4th, Charlotte mounted the usual NBA comeback. Mo Williams got hot from outside, scoring 11 points in under 6 minutes to cut the lead to 95-85. The Hornets came within 9 before a huge trey by Crowder made it 102-90. Charlotte still hung tough as Kemba Walker hit a 3 with 1:04 left, then totally flopped and drew a “keep the game close” offensive foul call on Thomas. Two Brandon Bass FTs, sandwiched by a pair of Walker layups, made it 110-104 with 34 ticks remaining. Walker missed a 3 but tied up the rebound with Turner. ET won the jump to Bradley, who streaked out of the pack on the dribble and was grabbed on a clear-path foul. He made both and the Cs could breathe easy.
Turner finished with 15 points, Crowder 14, Olynyk 11, and Thomas 10 and 7 assists. For Charlotte, Walker had 28 and 12 assists, Williams 19 (but only 6-17 shooting), and Henderson 17.
The Green:
Brad Stevens made no changes in the starting lineup, and the Celtics rewarded him by winning the 1st quarter. They had been outscored in the opening frame of the past 7 games.
In 12 1st-half minutes, Wallace was +11, made the aforementioned highlight dunk, had 2 steals and 4 rebounds, and scrapped to save a possession that ended with a Smart 3-pointer.
Smart had a highlight reel offensive rebound, of all things, sneaking in among three bigs to snatch the ball and quickly feed Bass, who was fouled.
Key sequence with 4 minutes left in the 3rd: Smart hustles back to emphatically reject Walker’s layup, leading to a Bradley trey in transition.
Tyler Zeller helped limit Al Jefferson to 12 points, just 4 of them in the 2nd half, as Big Al was not a factor.
The Gross:
Charlotte was frustrated by Boston, evidenced by Henderson delivering a flagrant 1 whack to Wallace who was simply holding the ball in the low post. Henderson fouled out in the 4th quarter.
Despite Wallace’s contributions, he was 0-4 at the line, including the FTs from Henderson’s flagrant foul.
With 34 seconds left and Boston clinging to a 6-point lead, Smart threw away the inbounds pass to give Charlotte a new life.
The Greenlights:
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The Grid:
- Points in the paint: 1st Quarter, Celtics 6, Charlotte 12; 2nd Quarter: Celtics 18, Hornets 4. For the game, Boston 40, Charlotte 42.
- Celts closed out the win by making their last 12 free throws.
- Boston shot 50.6% to Charlotte’s 47.1%, won the boards, 43-40, and led in assists, 28-20.
- Turnovers: Boston 7, Charlotte 10.
- Tyler’s brother, Cody Zeller, missed the match-up due to a shoulder injury.
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