Hornets Unable to Keep Pace with Celtics

The Hornets fall to 18-57 on the season.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Boston Celtics evened the season series with the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night with a 118-104 win in Uptown.

The Hornets surprisingly traded buckets with the high-powered Celtics offense throughout the entire first half, trailing by just six at the break. The third quarter, once again, proved to be the difference as the Hornets allowed 36 points in the frame. A 13-3 run in the final three minutes expanded Boston's lead to 16.

Sam Hauser an incredible night off the bench, tying Jayson Tatum for a team-high 25 points on 9/13 shooting, including knocking down 7/11 from three-point land.

Best of the Night: Grant Williams

Miles Bridges had a solid all-around performance, coming oh so close to recording a triple-double. As good as he was, no other player had a bigger role in this one than Grant Williams, who was asked to fill in for Nick Richards at the five. He had 23 points and seven rebounds while limiting Al Horford to 15 points.

Worst of the Night: Three-point defense

Boston is one of the best three-point shooting teams in the association, but I'm not giving the Hornets a pass here. Too many defensive breakdowns that led to the Celtics connecting on 19-of-53 shots from deep.

Next up: Hornets vs. Trail Blazers, Wednesday at 7 p.m. EST.