CHARLOTTE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston’s Jayson Tatum pumped in 29 points and his teammate Payton Pritchard hit six 3-pointers on the way to 22 points off the bench as the Celtics defeated the host Charlotte Hornets 113-103 Saturday. It marked Boston’s second win over Charlotte in less than 24 hours.
Luke Kornet’s 19 points and Derrick White’s 18 helped the Celtics to their sixth win in seven games to open the season, and Jrue Holiday’s triple with 3:44 to go polished off his 13-point evening.
LaMelo Ball racked up 36 points for the Hornets, who went 1-3 during a four-game homestand.
Brandon Miller, who hadn’t played since the Hornets’ season opener on Oct. 23 because of a glute injury, logged 31 minutes as a starter and provided 16 points. Josh Green added 12 points, Cody Martin supplied 11 and Tre Mann had 10.
The Celtics carved through Charlotte’s defense in the first half on the way to a 68-50 lead at the break.
But Boston couldn’t shake the Hornets until late in the fourth quarter. Charlotte was within 93-87 after Green canned a trey with 6:49 left in the game.
However, Holiday’s late 3-pointer later sparked a 7-0 run that pushed the Celtics’ lead to 108-93 with just 2:05 remaining.
For the second night in a row, the Celtics had a big advantage in free-throw scoring while the Hornets relied heavily on long-range shooting. Boston was 25-for-28 at the line compared to Charlotte’s 6-for-9 mark.
Still, the Celtics managed to finish with 16 triples to the Hornets’ 17 for the game, with Boston hitting four in the first seven-plus minutes of the contest to race out to a 26-12 lead with 4:42 left in the first quarter.
Boston attempted 52 shots from 3-point land on the night. Tatum was just 1-for-9 on threes, but he went 14-for-17 from the charity stripe.
Charlotte center Grant Williams, who was ejected from the game on Friday after committing a flagrant foul against Tatum, was in the Hornets’ starting lineup on Saturday, but he managed only five points in 34 minutes.
–Field Level Media