Celtics ring out 2019 with win over Hornets in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Celtics may not be entirely prepared for the second coming of the Roaring Twenties, but they made sure their last sip of this decade was sufficiently sweet.

They left the Teens behind with a 109-92 dispatching of the Hornets Tuesday, once again proving adept at playing without one of their core five and applying a tourniquet to the 113-97 wound inflicted upon them by Toronto three days earlier.

Jayson Tatum went for 24 points (13 of them in the opening quarter on 5-5 shooting), Kemba Walker again looked comfortable in his old gym with 22, and Gordon Hayward was an all-around factor with 21 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

Add to that Enes Kanter’s 13 points, 14 rebounds and career-high six blocks in 23 minutes off the bench, and the Celts had more than enough to overcome Charlotte’s late third quarter push to within four, pulling away to start the New Year’s Eve revelry.

“They’re a hard team to play against,” said Brad Stevens of the scrappy but now 13-23 Hornets. “They’ve been good here. It’s been hard to separate from them by a number of teams, and I thought our guys made enough plays to kind of keep (them) at bay as we were struggling to stop them. Then once we got a few stops we had a couple effort plays I thought went our way and we kind of separated the game, which was good.”

The defense was certainly timely — and focused. Devonte Grahame came in averaging 19.1 points, but he had just 11 on 3-for-12 shooting. And old friend Terry Rozier had another rough night against his former club, going for 10 points on 4-for-13 from the floor.

The C’s seemed to be cruising, with leads of as many as 14 in the first half, but Rozier and Cody Zeller had eight points apiece in the third quarter as the Hornets shot 61.1% from the floor and made it a game. But when Malik Monk opened the fourth with two free throws to cut it to 80-75, Hayward, Kanter and Kanter again produced second-chance hoops, and Tatum drilled a 3-pointer from the left corner for a 9-0 surge that pretty much removed any foolish Charlotte thoughts.

The Celts welcomed Marcus Smart back on Saturday, but they were without Jaylen Brown, who went for 30, 34 and 17 points in the last three games and celebrated being named NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week and missing the trip here with a sinus infection.

“I think we’ve had to deal with core guys being out more than any team probably,” said Hayward, who’s missed 16 games himself with hand and foot injuries. “I think we’re used to it. We certainly miss JB or anybody that goes down, but it’s one of those things where you’ve got to go out there and have a next-man-up mentality.”

“I mean, what else can we do?” said Walker, who drew another warm ovation and a couple of late “We love you, Kemba” shouts as he returned to face his old team. “When one guy goes down, everybody has to step their game up that much more, and that’s what we did.”

The fact the Celts have done it within their system — no one really stepping outside the plan to fire away — is impressive.

“Like I always say, man, we just have smart players, really smart guys, high IQ guys. We know how to play with each other,” said Walker. “We like playing with each other. We do anything it takes to win these games.”

Hayward was a big part of keeping things in order. He missed his first two shots but made nine of his last 12. His assists and general attention to the Celtics’ flow may have been bigger still.

“He’s not going to force it usually,” said Stevens. “I think he got into the paint and made some plays. He got a couple of ones to go there in the first half and that kind of opened the floodgates for him. … He made a lot of good plays (Tuesday).”

In the larger picture, the Celts took care of business to steer out of the skid that was Saturday’s unsightly loss to the Raptors and end the losing streak at one. They’ve lost no more than two straight, and there were just two occasions for that.

“I credit our bench for being ready,” said Stevens. “Our guys that are going to get the majority of the usage always seem to step up when a guy is down. That’s just the way it goes, and I think you know you’re going to get a few more opportunities when a guy is down. That’s just human nature. But then the bench is always ready. (Tuesday) Grant (Williams) had really good moments — and really good moments against Charlotte last week. They were helping so far off the corner and then Semi (Ojeleye) comes in and hasn’t played in the first and hits two 3’s (Tuesday) and gets to the corner a few times. Different guys, different times. That’s what teams are about.”

Explained Walker, “I think just being pros, just not wanting to lose. Even the games that we are losing, we’re playing hard, man. We’re in those games, competing at a high level. We’re just putting it behind us, and whenever we play that next game, just trying to go out there and do what we can to play harder and get a win.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2QdyRej