BSJ Game Report: Celtics 122, Hornets 106 - C's start slow, but dominate second half

Everything you need to know about the Celtics win over the Charlotte Hornets, with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics' offense was never really a problem, even after losing Derrick White to a neck strain early, but the defense was lacking early in the game. Boston let Charlotte get a lot of confidence early and the Hornets took advantage to start hitting everything through the first 20 minutes of the game or so. But then Robert Williams started making some incredible hustle plays, the Celtics' defense stepped up, and they went from down 16 in the second to up 10 by the end of the third. Then they really turned it on in the fourth to win going away. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

Taking turns in the turnaround: The Celtics' depth was on display in this one, and everyone made the most of their opportunity. Robert Williams changed the game with his energy in the second half, then Payton Pritchard pushed the pace and made sure the Celtics weren’t slacking, then Jayson Tatum went on a big scoring binge, and then Malcolm Brogdon put the game away. Sprinkle in a really nice defensive stretch by Luke Kornet and 12 assists from Marcus Smart and there was a lot of positive from a lot of places.

Defense steps up (and Charlotte shooting cools off): The worst thing a bad team can get is confidence, and man did the Hornets look confident early on. They peaked at about 67% shooting and 60% from 3 in the middle of the second quarter. They dropped to 59/40 by halftime, and 46.6/29.6 by the end of the game. They shot 34% in the second half overall, and 2-12 from 3 in the second half. Some of that is the Celtics' defense finally stepping up, and some of that was water finding its own level. 

Hustle plays pay off: Make no mistake about it, this game changed in the middle of the second quarter because Robert Williams started winning possessions for the Celtics with his desire and hustle. 

“I felt like they were playing at a different level than we were and we had to kind of match that intensity,” Al Horford said after the win. “For us it started with Rob and his energy getting offensive rebounds, making effort plays. That got us going.”

Once Boston decided to be first to loose balls and pushing the pace off that, this game was over. 

Holy assist-to-turnover ratio, Batman!: They had 35 assists to 7 turnovers. That's a monster ratio

TURNING POINT

The Celtics fell behind by 16 at the 5:20 mark of the second quarter, but they closed the quarter on a 20-8 run. That's when they started to make their hustle plays and turn up their defense. Boston outscored Charlotte 80-48 after that point in the game. 

SIX UP

Jayson Tatum: Still not dialed in from 3 (4-14 tonight) but he dropped 33 points on 8-13 shooting from 2. He scored 17 in the third quarter (where, to be fair, he was 3-6 from 3, but also 4-6 from 2) to lay the hammer down on Charlotte. This was important because they had picked up some good momentum at the half, but being casual about the second half would have been problematic. Tatum made sure that didn’t happen. He also had 9 rebounds and 6 assists. 

Malcolm Brogdon: Easily his best game as a Celtic. Pressed into longer minutes, Brogdon put up a season-high 30 in a season-high 31:23. He had 14 in the fourth quarter to close out the Hornets, getting to the rim at will. He was 4-5 from 2 and he got to the line 3 times in the closing quarter. He went 4-6 from 3 in the game. 

Payton Pritchard: He actually didn’t shoot well in this game and only finished with 9 points but he played a fast-paced game when the Celtics needed a pace car in the lineup. He had two signature plays … one was a clean rip of LaMelo Ball (who had just stolen the ball from Pritchard) and a breakaway layup, and then a missed layup where he got his own offensive rebound and kicked it to Brogdon for 3. 

Robert Williams: Early on, he was a lob threat, but then he turned into an offensive rebounding maniac, grabbing 6 of his 12 rebounds on the offensive glass. He helped add possessions to Boston’s totals with his hard work and energy. I thought his steal on Ball right at the end of the first half was huge, because instead of getting some kind of crazy shot off and maybe a crazy make to go into the half with momentum, it was a turnover that kept the Hornets deflated. 

Al Horford: 16 points on 6-10 shooting (4-7 3pt). All of his shots felt timely, especially the one in the third quarter that finally gave Boston a 73-72 lead. He also had 6 assists. Really nice glue game for him, just doing a little of everything to hold it all together. 

Marcus Smart: I crunched all the numbers and ran them through my proprietary algorithm and it turned out Smart had a 50.1% good game and 49.9% bad one, so he makes this side of the column for tonight. Maybe we should have expected a lot of the shots he took since Boston didn’t have Jaylen Brown and White left injured, but the 12 3-pointers is just an egregious amount of shots. He had one stretch where he missed three on one possession. But, he dished 12 assists to go with just two turnovers and his second-half defense was pretty damn good, so he made up for it. 

TWO DOWN 

Sam Hauser: More on him in a minute, so I’ll be brief. He was a -14 in 3:38 of play before playing garbage time. That is hard to do. 

Grant Williams: He wasn’t all bad, but when you try to cook in front of your hometown friends and family and airball a stepback 3-pointer by about 3 feet short, then you earn a seat at the down table. Sit down. Be humble. 

TOP PLAYS

TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Attacking the basket works (chapter 518): The Celtics took 53 3-pointers in this game, but it’s not the number that I have an issue with because if they're all good shots, then it’s okay.

They weren’t all good shots, especially against a Charlotte team that has zero rim protection at all. In the first half, Boston launched way too often (31 3s to 20 2s). They shot so many 3-pointers that even Eddie House was saying they needed to chill out. 

In the second half, they shot 22 from deep and 26 from 2. 

It actually started with Pritchard, whose backdoor cut and layup showed how easy it was to get to the rim. 

Inside-out basketball is how this team is going to succeed on offense. Some nights they’ll need to bury 25 3-pointers to win, but on most nights they’ll just need to get into the paint and work the ball around to make the defense work harder to earn stops. It pays off in the long run.

- Sam Hauser is becoming a problem: 

Hauser checked into the game at 2:18 of the third quarter. Cody Martin immediately attack him and went through him for an and-1. 

Hauser was subbed out immediately, and he didn’t go back in until garbage time. 

I do believe that Hauser has it in him to be what Boston wants from him, but his confidence level seems to have crashed through the floor, the foundation and the earth’s crust, coming to rest somewhere in the mantle. The Celtics need to pull that back up somehow. 

Is it a trip to Maine? Is it a different role? Is it something else? 

All I know is that we saw non-garbage time Justin Jackson minutes because of this, and that's not going to fly. 

I used to think Brad Stevens didn’t need to make a move at the deadline. Now I think he should be on the prowl for some more reliable shooting and maybe they can get Hauser a chance to find himself with bigger minutes in the G League. 

Next Up: These two teams do it again on Monday, this time at 1:00 p.m. as an MLK Day matinee.