BOSTON — From the very start of the game, the Boston Celtics outdueled the Charlotte Hornets. Or, more specifically, Jayson Tatum and Payton Pritchard outdueled the Hornets.
It all started with Tatum. He was unstoppable from the moment he touched the ball. First, there were drives into the paint. He snaked through Charlotte's defense, driving hard to the rim past Ryan Kalkbrenner. Then, the outside shots started to fall.
Tatum felt good. Like everything he shot was going to go in. It was clear based on the shots he was taking (and making). In the third quarter, he nailed a heavily contested mid-range shot and was laughing to himself while running back on defense. He knew better than anyone that he was in the zone.
And Pritchard was right there alongside him. With Jaylen Brown and Derrick White sidelined, Tatum and Pritchard transformed into an elite scoring duo. One that Charlotte had no answer for.
By halftime, Tatum had 20 points, two rebounds, and three assists, and Pritchard had 13 points, three rebounds, and two assists.
Jordan Walsh, who earned the start on Sunday night, gave Boston some quality hustle minutes. His defense and rebounding lifted Boston up, and Baylor Scheierman did the same off the bench.
Though Scheierman got burned on a few defensive possessions, his ball-handling and three-point shooting provided Tatum and Pritchard with some much-needed support.
But just in case two solid performances from young wings weren't enough, Ron Harper Jr. chipped in, too. He exited the game (and returned) with a right ankle sprain, but when he was on the court, he did a little bit of everything. Harper drove to the rim well, utilized his active hands on defense, rose up for rebounds, and even nailed a three.
Even Neemias Queta played well, outmuscling Moussa Diabate and Kalkbrenner down low.
Everything went swimmingly for the Celtics. Until it didn't.
There's a reason that the Hornets have been one of the best teams in the league this season. And the start of the fourth quarter showed it. LaMelo Ball caught fire from three-point range, and within the first four minutes of the fourth, Charlotte had cut Boston's lead to nine.
Joe Mazzulla called a timeout with 8:34 to go, and the Celtics settled down. And that may be an understatement.
After the timeout, the Celtics' offense locked back in to what was working up to that point. They got themselves easy buckets around the rim, and that helped Tatum refind his groove.
With 5:57 to go, Tatum nailed a pull-up three and signaled to the crowd as if to say, 'Get these guys off the court.'
From then on, it was relatively smooth sailing. The Celtics cruised to a big-time win in Charlotte.
Big winner: This was the exact type of game Tatum