Hornets Fend Off Late Rally from Celtics

BOSTON, MA - The Charlotte Hornets picked up their sixth win in its last seven games with a 111-102 road victory over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.

It was an ugly start to the game as both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net. Five minutes into the first quarter, the score was knotted up at eight a piece. In that same amount of time, LaMelo Ball, who missed Monday's game with a non-COVID-related illness, turned it over four times.

After the slow start, both sides started to heat up, trading buckets for the first six or so minutes of the 2nd quarter. For the Hornets, it was the bench that got them going as Kelly Oubre Jr. and Jalen McDaniels each went for 10 points in their first nine minutes of action. Oubre had missed the previous four games due to being in the NBA's Health & Safety protocols.

Charlotte, the NBA's 3rd-best three-point shooting team, couldn't buy a bucket from beyond the arc outside of a two minute stretch where they connected on four in a row. Fortunately for the Hornets, the Celtics went ice cold in the final five minutes of the half which allowed Charlotte to go on a 15-3 run and take a 56-48 lead into the break.

The three ball started to fall for the Hornets as they hit six of their first eight attempts in the third quarter, three of which came from Terry Rozier. Boston hit a couple of threes to keep things within reach heading to the fourth, but Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum going a combined 2/18 from deep on the night wasn't ideal for the guys in green.

Romeo Langford and Josh Richardson muscled the Celtics right back into the game guiding a 10-2 run to open up the fourth and cutting the Charlotte lead to just four, 88-84. LaMelo Ball ended the run by hitting just his second three-pointer on the night. Miles Bridges followed that up by attacking the paint on back-to-back possessions picking up a pair of tough baskets. Kelly Oubre Jr. drilled a three to push the Hornets' lead back up to ten with five minutes remaining.

In the final two minutes of the game, Charlotte ballooned the lead back up to 12 but two quick threes from Dennis Schroder brought it back to a six-point game, 108-102. Just seconds after turning over the ball leading to a Boston three, Rozier came back with a three of his own for the dagger.

The Hornets will return home Friday night to host the Oklahoma City Thunder. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. EST.

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