In what was the Boston Celtics' second straight potential playoff preview, they welcomed the Charlotte Hornets to TD Garden on Tuesday night.
Led by LaMelo Ball, the Hornets jumped out to an early advantage, pouring in threes throughout the first half. But late-game execution was enough to lift Boston back into the game.
By the final buzzer, the Celtics walked away with a SCORE victory. Here are two ups and two downs from the win.
Up: Resilience
Boston never gave up. The Hornets are a fast-paced, three-point-heavy, run-oriented team. Once they get some momentum flowing, they become very hard to stop. And for a lot of Tuesday night's game, Boston couldn't.
However, once the second half came around, it was a different story. For the second straight game, a strong fourth-quarter performance lifted the Celtics to a win.
Payton Pritchard consistently found himself open beyond the three-point arc, draining some clutch triples. Boston's defense forced the Hornets into mistakes that allowed it to get out in transition. Jaylen Brown put his head down and got to the rim. Jayson Tatum and Boston's bigs honed in on the defensive glass.
The Celtics tightened up. They limited their own mistakes. All of the issues that had plagued them throughout the game were replaced by calculated, hustle-first, team basketball.
It was more than resilience. It was championship DNA. In what felt like a playoff atmosphere at TD Garden, the Celtics played playoff basketball.
Down: Stopping LaMelo Ball
It didn't matter what Boston did: Whenever Ball touched the ball, he made something happen.
Ball is a very unique player. When his play style doesn't work, it looks foolish. But when it does, he looks genius. And his style certainly worked on Tuesday night at TD Garden.
The one-footed, step-in threes may not seem aesthetically pleasing, but they are very hard to guard. Boston consistently went over screens, trying to force Ball inside, but his one-footed floating three-point shot kept his long-range attack alive.
And when he was forced to drive, it didn't matter. His float game still beat Boston's bigs, thanks to his ability and willingness to shoot from outside the paint.
The Celtics tried their best to avoid sending extra help at him, taking away his skills as a playmaker, but Ball's scoring was more than enough on Tuesday.
He was the ember that fueled Charlotte's offensive fire.
The Hornets' entire three-point attack could be looped in here, especially in the first half. Whether it was in transition or out of the pick-and-roll, Charlotte buried three after three in Boston's face.
Up: Jordan Walsh
For the past few games, Jordan Walsh has been on the rise. The coveted "ninth-man-in-the-rotation" role has been up for grabs since Tatum's return, but Walsh seems to have grabbed it by the horns.
Hugo Gonzalez can still provide Boston with a spark. Ron Harper Jr., too. But Walsh's play on Tuesday (and on Sunday against the Toronto Raptors) certainly gave him a leg up.
It wasn't a perfect performance. Walsh still sprinkled in the occasional misstep (like when he stole a rebound from Brown and was out of bounds), but he was largely impactful.
Walsh hustled around screens to contest Ball. He ferociously attacked the glass. He sniffed out extra possessions even when they seemed lost.
Even on the offensive end, he slithered his way inside the paint, finding chances to score at the rim. If there was space to get inside, Walsh found it, on or off the ball.
Should he continue to provide the Celtics with the type of performance that he gave them on Tuesday, he could quickly become a shoo-in for some end-of-rotation playoff minutes.
Down: