Celtics break out with 116-86 win over Charlotte

Though the Celtics still lack Tristan Thompson, perhaps not for long, they are at their healthiest in a long, inconsistent season.

And with Evan Fournier showing that his seven-trey performance against the Houston was not a fluke, and Rob Williams shooting 16-for-18 over his last two games, the Celtics are finally getting an idea of their newfound balance.

Jayson Tatum’s 22-point performance led the Celtics in a 116-86 win over Charlotte that included three other players with 16 points or more and another two with 12. They shot 39 percent from downtown (21-for-54) and attached 29 assists to 43 baskets in one of their finest nights of ball movement this season.

The injury-wracked Hornets (no Gordon Hayward, LaMelo Ball or Malik Monk) started the day in the fourth conference playoff seed, a game-and-a half ahead of the eighth-seeded Celtics, who thus gained a game on their opponent, and have a chance to move on another rival when they play the Knicks Wednesday in the Garden.

Tatum had 22 points by the end of the third quarter, including a trey at the buzzer for a 98-70 Celtics lead. Brown had another 17 points, Williams and Fournier had 14 each, and Walker and Smart each had 12.

The Celtics’ 18-for-41 3-point shooting (44 percent) considered, not to mention the 24 assists they had just attached to 36 baskets, the offense was surging, and the crowd was chanting for Tacko Fall.

Smart beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer for a 58-43 halftime lead, and at the break the Celtics were shooting a solid 10-for-27 from downtown despite a combined 0-for-12 downtown showing from Tatum and Walker, each with six misses.

Fournier, going back to his 20-point fourth quarter Friday night against Houston, had 32 points over his previous three quarters, and along with Brown was shooting a combined 7-for-10 from beyond the arc against the Hornets.

Rob Williams, who posterized Bismack Biyombo off a Smart lob – no small feat against the Hornets big man – was now 12-for-12 from the floor going back to the start of Friday’s win over Houston.

The Celtics opened the third at a similar clip, thanks to early threes from Smart and Walker – the latter’s first trey of the night – and a Williams put-back over Biyombo.

Tatum’s up-top three with just over six minutes left in the third was good for their first 20-point (76-56) lead, and it grew to 28 (95-70) by the end of the quarter on Tatum’s buzzer-beating trey.

Rozier, always on the hunt for buckets, had two 3-pointers within his first three minutes, and with the Celtics off to another cold start, the Hornets led by nine after the first six minutes.

A pair of 3-pointers from Brown got them back into it. Fournier tied it at 20-20 with a corner three. The Celtics ended the quarter on Tatum’s fourth missed trey, and trailing the Hornets, 26-25.

But Fournier was heating up – he was 3-for-3 including two threes by midway through the second quarter, and was fouled draining a third trey with 6:34 left. Fournier hit the free throw to convert the four-point play for a 41-30 Celtics lead.

Brown answered a Rozier miss with his fourth bomb for a 44-30 lead with 6:01 left. That lead dropped as low as eight points before the Celtics, running off their defense, opened the gap again, including a Tatum dunk for a 53-41 edge, and a Walker pull-up for a 55-42 lead.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3fDiO6J