BSJ Game Report: Celtics 134, Hornets 93 - 3-point barrage leads to comfortable preseason opener

Everything you need to know about the Boston Celtics preseason opening blowout of the Charlotte Hornets, with BSJ insight and analysis:

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics were on fire from the outside, burying 22 3-pointers to Charlotte’s 5. Jaylen Brown got the Celtics started early, then Sam Hauser and Grant Williams took over in the second quarter, and the Celtics cruised from there.

HEADLINES

Hot shooting Hauser: He played well enough to get reactions like this on Twitter:

Obviously, he’s not going to shoot 80% from 3, but this is exactly what Hauser is here to do. He got to his spots, took clean catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, and made them. 

“It’s only one game, but definitely good to get back out there and play with these guys, get used to playing off them, and obviously making some shots helps,” he said. “I think the game has kind of slowed down a little bit. I think that’s just natural with basketball. Everything seemed like 1,000 miles an hour last year and you just get used to it. So I think just kind of being more comfortable and being around these guys more helps.”

Shooting hides turnover issues: They turned it over 25 times for 21 Hornets points. You don’t normally see teams win by 40 doing that, but the Celtics outscored Charlotte 66-15 from 3, which masked the problem. 

Malcolm Brogdon shows importance: One more guy to drive and kick the ball makes a big difference. The Celtics had 38 assists on the night, which is phenomenal. Brogdon led the way with 9. 

TURNING POINT

The Celtics started the second quarter on a 13-2 run, ultimately outscoring the Hornets 37-22 to take a 22-point lead into the half. Williams and Hauser did a bulk of the damage, combining to go 5-6 from 3 in the quarter. They combined for 11 of the 13 points in that initial run, with Williams assisting on the other basket. 

FOUR UP

Jaylen Brown: First quarter Jaylen was in the building, picking up where he left off last season. 13 of his 24 points came in the first quarter. Brown was hot when the rest of the team was cold to start. 

Sam Hauser: 14 points on 5-6 shooting (4-5 3pt) and a couple of assists made for a great afternoon. The biggest impact of this game is that it serves notice to opponents that leaving him open is not exactly advisable. 

“Thought he played well, I thought he was in the right spot, tried to make the right play,” Mazzulla said. “We have a bunch of guys that have the ability to make shots and we really played well together. And so he fits right into that.”

Grant Williams: More than the hot shooting, Williams had a couple of nice plays attacking a charging defender and finishing with his left hand and finding teammates (4 assists). The plays he was making seemed to be steps forward for him offensively. There was a smoothness to how he attacked. 

Malcolm Brogdon: It was easy to see how much easier he’ll make things on offense. More on Brogdon coming up.

THREE DOWN 

Noah Vonleh: A foul-filled performance full of defensive mistakes. He hit a couple of shots, which is nice, but he’s going to need to be more solid on the other end. 

Jayson Tatum: He recovered after a slow start, but he struggled from the field, finishing the game shooting 4-11 (2-8 3pt).

The starters trying to rebound: The starting unit struggled with keeping Charlotte off the glass. Part of that seemed to be a lack of effort in boxing out. On one hand, we can yell about how they need to put forth a better effort and build good habits. On the other, I’m not losing sleep over not boxing out on a Sunday afternoon preseason game. Just make a note of it and hopefully there's a better effort next time. 

TOP PLAYS

THREE TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Game One of the Joe Mazzulla era was fine

“I felt like I was coaching a great team that wanted to win. That was fun to coach,” Mazzulla said of his debut. It’s easy to feel that way when your first chance to pace an NBA sideline is during a 41-point blowout win. 

Preseason games are about trying a bunch of things, accumulating the video of said things, and then parsing out what worked, what didn’t, and what can be replicated. It works the same for a coach.

“It was fine,” Mazzulla said. “I’m gonna make mistakes. Bad ones. Just have to learn from them.”

He admitted to making a few in this game, but he wouldn’t let anyone in on what they were. It was hard to tell from our perspective because this wasn’t a real-world circumstance. There was no real need for strategic timeouts. Weird lineups aren’t just expected, they're encouraged as the team tries to figure out which rotations work. And while the refs were a bit whistle-happy early on, there wasn’t a need for Mazzulla to ride the zebras to angle for calls. 

But still, it was a chance to coach NBA players, and the NBA players liked what they saw. 

“I thought he was terrific. I thought he was great,” Brogdon said. “I thought he was composted. I thought he had some excellent out-of-timeout plays. I thought he did an excellent job. It’s going to continue to get tougher for him, continue to get tougher for us as we get to the regular season and teams start really scouting us we play high-level competition, but I think me and all my teammates have the utmost confidence in him to be ready for that and keep us motivated and continue to prepare us the right way.”

We’ll see where it goes from here, but this was a pretty easy entry into the head coaching world for Mazzulla. 

- The turnovers have to be cleaned up

I’m not going to go nuts over anything in the first preseason game, but everyone knows 24 turnovers for 21 points is unacceptable. 

“Don't let this game fool you, we have a lot of work to do,” Jaylen Brown admitted. “We have to take care of the ball better, we got to get more connected on offense and defense, rebound a lot better. Those are the type of things we want to build now in the preseason. We're not patting ourselves on the back here for winning a preseason game. It's a lot of work to be done so better get to it.”

They gave up 101 field goal attempts, which is a recipe for disaster. If this had been a normal game against a full-strength Hornets team, the score might have been flipped. At the very least, it would have been a much closer battle. 

The Celtics bailed themselves out with their shooting. That's not going to be there every night. 

- Mfiondu Kabengele is fun (and having fun, too)

There were some plays where he looked lost, which might have been the excitement of playing in the Garden for the Celtics getting to him a bit. 

“At warmup, coming around, I was looking up and just saw all the banners and I was like, ‘Man, it's good to be back up top’ because it's something you dream about,” he said. “And now that I'm back, I want to stay here for a long time.”

He’s not being asked to do a lot besides rebound and roll to the basket, and once he got his feet under him, he did that. He finished with 10 points and 3 rebounds, but the signature moment of the game was his dive for a loose ball that woke up a crowd that was getting a little sleepy in the late stages of a Sunday afternoon blowout. 

Kabengele himself was so excited that when he saw an official’s hand reaching out for the ball, he smacked it in celebration. He didn’t realize it was a ref until I told him that after the game. 

"The ref? I was so locked in I didn't realize that. I just saw hands and I dapped him up, for sure,” he said. “Apologies, sir."

I don’t know if Kabengele will stick around but after this week, I’m really hoping he does. He has a wide-eyed appreciation for being on this team, and considering the recent circumstances around the team, a happy, energetic guy might just be what this team needs.