Celtics fall to Pelicans, 115-109

Evan Fournier can be forgiven some opening-night jitters. The new Celtics wing wasn’t able to find his usual deadly range on an 0-for-10 night from the floor.

But Fournier’s struggles were emblematic of his new team (for most of the night). The Celtics, in a freeze the entire night with the exception of a 34-point performance from Jayson Tatum and another 23 from Kemba Walker, thus fell for the second time to the Pelicans this season, 115-109.

Marcus Smart was ejected late in the fourth after picking up his second technical foul. The first was a Flagrant 1 charge in the third quarter.

Jaylen Brown missed the game with a hip contusion, and the scorer’s absence showed in a 41.5 percent Celtics shooting effort..

Williamson literally bowled them over during the fourth quarter of the Celtics’ Feb. 21 loss in New Orleans, and he exacted similar damage this time with a 28-point performance.

The Celtics fought to keep up, and when Tatum hit his fifth 3-pointer of the night with 50 seconds left, it cut the New Orleans lead to 110-107.

But Brandon Ingram came right back with a 3-pointer over the fingertips of his fellow Duke Blue Devil with 33.1 seconds left for a five-point New Orleans lead. The Celtics came out of the timeout with a Tatum miss and Williamson, fouled, went to the line, but not before Smart was ejected on his second technical foul.

New Orleans, despite a Walker drive, ran out the clock from there.

Williamson’s drive past Luke Kornet closed out the third quarter for an 88-81 New Orleans lead. Fournier (0-for-7) was still in search of his first basket as a Celtic, and though the Pelicans’ 3-point shooting had cooled off, the Celtics weren’t doing any better from downtown.

Williamson opened came right back to open the fourth quarter scoring, and then added another bucket under the arm of Kornet, who then lost the ball on the Celtics’ next possession.

The next time, with the Celtics in a zone, Williamson was called for an offensive foul, but Tatum missed a short one from the lane. Smart finally scored, cutting the Pelicans lead to 92-83. Rob Williams, fouled, hit once from the line for an eight-point game that jumped back to 11 on a Pelicans trey.

Williamson continued to bull his way into the paint, with a pair of free throws for a 99-84 lead with eight minutes left.

It only got worse, with Smart driving his way to an offensive foul, with the faint sound of boos in the air. Smart was called for a Flagrant 1 foul on the play — Nickeil Alexander-Walker missed both free throws — and Smart also committed a foul on the ensuing play. This time Eric Bledsoe hit once for a 100-84 Pelicans lead with 7:30 left.

Pritchard hit a three to break the drought, but Bledsoe matched him for a 103-87 edge. Both sides swapped turnovers

Tatum cut the New Orleans lead to 14 with two free throws with 6:08 left, but Alexander-Walker answered from downtown.

The process was painfully slow, but the Celtics cut the Pelicans lead to 12 points on a Tatum drive off a Smart offensive board, but Fournier leaned his way into an air ball after the Pelicans turned the ball over.

Tatum scored for a 10-point cushion. Two missed Steven Adams free throws helped, and Walker drew a foul with 1:51 left. He hit both for an eight-point advantage, Bledsoe missed from the corner, and Walker hit from 12 feet.

Williamson missed and Tatum buried a 3-pointer with 50 seconds left.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/39tCMgq