Celtics-Hornets Player Grades: Stars Step Up Late, But Jordan Walsh's Defense Was Big

Game Flow
Three Reasons They Won
They Cut Off LaMelo Ball’s Water
The Offense Started Flowing Again
The Stars Finished The Job
Player Grades

BOSTON — The Celtics looked disjointed in a physical game against a very motivated Charlotte Hornets team. But their defense shut down a blistering-hot LaMelo Ball when it mattered, and the offense came together at the right time for a 113-102 win

Box Score

Game Flow

LaMelo Ball was unconscious to start the game as the teams went back and forth to start the game. Neemias Queta’s offensive rebounding got him to eight early points. The Celtics went ice cold after that, going scoreless over the last 4:09 while the Hornets went on a 9-0 run to take an 11-point lead.

The Celtics got six of those back to start the quarter but Ball’s hot shooting continued to hold Boston off to start. Jaylen Brown got going and the Celtics finally started hitting shots on their way to briefly retaking the lead. Once again, it was the Hornets closing the quarter strong, ending on a 12-4 run and going into the half up six.

Ball’s roll continued into the third, but aside from his 13 and Brandon Miller’s eight, Charlotte didn’t get much. Boston, meanwhile, got a great defensive effort from Jordan Walsh, and a balanced 35 points to take a three-point lead into the fourth. Brown and Payton Pritchard were big parts of a 13-3 run to close the quarter.

The Celtics kept rolling into the fourth, opening up a seven-point lead to force a timeout. They kept it going to extend the earlier run to 29-10 and push the lead to 12. The best Charlotte could do after that was cut it to eight as Boston’s stars closed the door.

Three Reasons They Won

They Cut Off LaMelo Ball’s Water

Ball made his last basket of the night at the 8:13 mark of the third quarter. Sam Hauser came out of the game after that, Jordan Walsh checked in, and then all Ball got after that was four free throws. He played 14 minutes after Walsh checked in and took only two more shots, missing both. The Hornets only scored 30 points in the final 19:31 of the game.

The Offense Started Flowing Again

The Celtics offense felt off most of the night. Maybe it was how physical the game was and that was throwing off the timing, or maybe the Celtics got too happy to go pigeon hunting, but we weren’t seeing the usual flow to Boston’s high-powered offense.

Then as the defense hit another level and they started to run more, the rest of the offense got going.

“I thought our offense let us down the entire first half,” Joe Mazzulla said. “You get to halftime, and you’re like ‘it’s a six-point game, we’re not playing the way we need to on the offensive end, and here’s 10 points we can get better at defensively. You take that away, we’re winning.’ So I thought our defense kept us in the entire game, but I thought we took it to a different level. And then I thought connecting a better offense there made us even better throughout the second half.”

The Stars Finished The Job

Tatum and Brown combined for 15 to match the entire Hornets output in the fourth. Rewind a little bit and Payton Pritchard was a big part of the run to end the third quarter. He scored nine of his 12 points in that final 19:31 where Boston ran away with the game.

Player Grades

Jaylen Brown: A- (35 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 5 turnovers)

The 7:31 mark of the third is the turning point of this game, and Brown had 17/4/3 in those final 19:31. Four of his turnovers came in that stretch, though, and I wouldn’t say it was his most fluid game of all. The A- is because of the turnovers and, I thought, getting too deep into the matchup-hunting. I think that's when he’s his most turnover prone.

Jayson Tatum: A- (23 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers)

He played almost 39 minutes, which is amazing. This was a good game for him, but the A+ bar is pretty high for him now. As Joe Mazzulla said a couple of games ago, he only had five rebounds so he could have been better at that.

Payton Pritchard: B+ (12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists)

He was a big part of the closing kick in the third quarter, doing all his damage from the three-point line. A+ Pritchard is getting into the paint and hitting those patented turnaround fadeaways.

Derrick White: B+ (12 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists)

Three of his four three-pointers were catch-and-shoot shots. This was a game where I thought they could have run more for him. I think in an alternate universe, the Celtics moved the ball better to start the game and White had a monster, 30-point night. I think he looked that comfortable, but he didn’t get the right opportunities.

Jordan Walsh: B+ (9 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal)

His defense was really good. It was obvious Ball was cooking against Hauser, so Mazzulla almost had no choice but to go in a different direction. Walsh cashed in on the opportunity

“He just understands that when he's at his best defensively, he's impacting the other team's best player, he's creating turnovers, he's making things difficult,” Mazzulla said. “I think it's just it's just he finds different ways to impact the game for us, hit a corner of three, as he continues to grow and get better and make impactful plays for us. I thought he was big tonight.”

Neemias Queta: B (12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block)

Queta started out hot, scoring eight of his 12 in the first quarter. But the opportunities weren’t there in the second half.

Sam Hauser: C+ (5 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists)

Hauser has done a pretty good job making himself into a defender who can’t be exploited all the time. But that doesn’t mean he can’t be exploited some of the time, and Ball was definitely picking on him out there. Also, it doesn’t look like Hauser will get to 40% shooting from three this year, which would be a first in his career.

Nikola Vucevic: C+ (2 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals)

This was not going well for Vucevic, but things turned around in the second half for him.

“His pick-and-roll defense was great in the second half,” Mazzulla said. “We just need him to continue to get his legs underneath him, but get comfortable in those playmaking situations on both ends of the floor. And he kind of showed that in the second half.”

The Celtics are giving him a crash course after a month off, so this was a good sign. He needed a long stretch of positive play for his confidence.

Baylor Scheierman: C (3 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist)

He only played nine minutes, but he had a stretch in the last two minutes of the third where he hit a three and then rebounded his own miss to feed Pritchard for a three. So even in a generally forgettable game, he made an impact during an important run.