Hornets Disappoint Against Celtics; Face Lingering Questions

It was a great chance to make some ground in the play-in battle, but it turned into a blowout loss. As the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat lost elsewhere, so did the Charlotte Hornets to a Celtics team without Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, and Nikola Vucevic.

How did it happen? Find out here!

The first quarter (21 CHA - BOS 27)

The hosts continued right where they left off in their loss against the Philadelphia 76ers the night before, which is not a compliment. If there was one word to describe Charlotte's performance in the first, it would be: inconstancy.

There were certainly good stretches of possessions here and there, but they were far between.
The shots, even the open ones, would rarely fall, as LaMelo Ball (0/4 FG, 2 TOs) and Brandon Miller (1/5 FG) struggled out of the gates.

It was only when Coby White came into the game that some offensive flow began to develop.

Meanwhile, the Celtics weren't exactly flaming hot either, but they turned the ball over less and were more efficient inside the arc.

The best news of the first quarter? A three-pointer by Kon Knueppel meant another record broken for the Hornets' shooting star:

The second quarter (CHA 49 - BOS 63)

Things seemed to get worse for Charlotte as the game went on. Boston began the second quarter with a 10-0 run, spurred by their increasingly stifling defense and the Hornets' inability to make shots.

In an effort to find more effort, head coach Charles Lee even tried out Liam McNeeley for a couple of minutes. It didn't help.

Instead, the Boston lead grew as large as 19. Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum, whose season high since returning from ACL injury was 26, already had 20 at the half.

Tatum's jumpshot was on point, but the Hornets also messed up defensively numerous times and failed to ever force him into tough attempts. The same could be said about the defense on Payton Pritchard, who finished the first half with 13 points.

One sequence to sum up the game to that point: LaMelo Ball finally found the bottom of the basket for the first time late in the second, put up seven quick ones, but also added two quick fouls, which led to him being benched for the final 47 seconds of the half and missing the concluding offensive possessions.

The third quarter (75 CHA - BOS 89)

It was much of the same after halftime. Tatum and Pritchard continued to have their way unbothered. How unbothered, you may ask? So unbothered that the Celtics didn't commit a single turnover in the third.

Sion James and Liam McNeeley were the two bright spots for Charlotte in an otherwise disappointing quarter. The rookies combined for eleven points, three rebounds, and two assists in the third.

That, and a couple more scores, were at least enough to keep the hosts in any sort of striking distance heading into the fourth.

The fourth quarter (99 CHA - BOS 114)

There was one final push left in the Hornets, and it came early in the fourth quarter. Two triples by LaMelo Ball and one by Brandon Miller closed the gap to nine points.

And just as quickly as that gap had closed a little bit, it opened back up. It was Tatum again, but it was also Pritchard, again, and then even Neemias Queta and Baylor Scheierman.

Celtics head coach Joe Mazzula got something out of everybody he used, while almost the exact opposite could be said for Charles Lee. Once the Hornets' strawfire had been put out, the game was over.

Best of the game: A learning experience

There is no shame in losing to this Celtics team, even when they are without some of their starters. Because no matter who takes the court for them, they all know how to play their way, and they do so consistently.

That's something that cannot be said for the Hornets, even though they have made some big strides this year. But when the threes aren't falling, which will happen to every team eventually at some point, they do not seem to have a functioning plan B, or even A2.

Hopefully, playing a team that has a great plan A1 and A2 can rub off a little on LaMelo and Co.

Also, some credit is due to be given to Sion James, Ryan Kalkbrenner, and Liam McNeeley tonight. Together with Coby White, the trio of rookies was the only group of players with a positive plus-minus. Their intensity stood out in an overall sluggish performance.

Worst of the game: Minimizing the mistakes

Everyone has a bad shooting night at some point, and for what it's worth, the Hornets did have a couple of good looks they simply didn't connect on this time around.

But what they cannot afford to do, especially if the scoring output is low, is to get outsmarted and outworked. Both of those things happened tonight.

You can watch any quarter, and you would find a good amount of plays where a Hornets starter commits a stupid foul, or fails to box out correctly on a defensive rebound, or loses track of his man on defense or...

All this to say: This was one of the worst performances in quite a while. Not one player crossed the 20-point mark, and the Hornets lost a game they could have really used. It is also not the end of the world if they simply take the right learnings with them.

Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter for the latest news and updates on the Charlotte Hornets