It was the Avery Bradley show in Charlotte on Saturday night as the Celtics beat the Hornets, 104-98, to improve to 2-1 on the young season. Bradley shot 11-19 and posted 31 points – 14 in the pivotal fourth quarter – while adding four assists and career highs of 11 rebounds and eight three-pointers (on 11 attempts).
Isaiah Thomas and Al Horford added 24 and 14 points, respectively. The Celtics also bounced back from their poor showing on the boards in Chicago, out-rebounding Charlotte, 42-38. The Hornets had just six offensive rebounds.
Boston also overcame a huge disadvantage at the foul line. The Hornets were 25-33 on freebies, while the Celts were just 11-17 (and several of those from intentional fouls in the final minute). How bad was it? Brad Stevens was hit with an extremely rare technical.
After going 2-0 on the road to start the season, the Hornets were playing their home opener. They were without injured Roy Hibbert on the second night of a back-to-back.
The Hornets made an early effort to deny the ball from Horford down low, but that left open shots at the arc. The Celtics’ took advantage: their first five makes were three-pointers. Boston’s defense was also strong in the first, holding the Hornets to just 6-20 shooting and forcing a 24-second violation. Also important, the Hornets were able to grab just two offensive rebounds. Boston’s lead peaked at 14 until Charlotte scored the final five points of the quarter. It was 28-19 at the horn.
Unfortunately, the Hornets continued their scoring run, notching the first eight points of the second to close to 28-27. Boston was scoreless for 5:40 while Charlotte’s bench dominated Boston’s subs, again highlighting how much the Cs are missing Marcus Smart and Kelly Olynyk. The starters returned and restored order, mostly behind Bradley, who had 15 points (5-7 from the arc), seven rebounds and three assists in the half. Charlotte never took the lead, although they stayed in the game with their ridiculous advantage at the free-throw line: Hornets 15-22, Celtics 2-2 in the half. Boston went to the locker room with a 44-41 lead.
Early in the third, threes by Jae Crowder and Horford stretched the lead to 58-48, but Kemba Walker (29 points on the night) responded with five straight points to force a Boston timeout. Charlotte kept coming – triples by Walker and Marvin Williams cut it to 60-59. The Hornets finally tied it at 65, but Jaylen Brown hit a beautiful twisting drive and-one for a three-point lead. Jordan Mickey threw down a slam off a nice feed from Gerald Green, but a Nic Batum runner gave the Hornets their first lead, 71-70, heading to the fourth.
Charlotte upped its lead to three before yet another Bradley triple triggered a 14-3 run that forced a Hornets timeout. Terry Rozier had a driving and-one and Jonas Jerebko followed with a three to extend the lead to 93-79 with 4:22 remaining.
On the next Charlotte possession, Crowder was called for a ticky-tack foul and a technical (for arguing) on a Batum three-point attempt. Batum drained three of the four FTs, and Walker made two straight driving layups, but Isaiah’s layup made it 98-90 with 1:45 to play. Then IT fed Bradley, who – fittingly – drained yet another triple to ice it with 50 seconds left.
The Green:
Celtics shot 12-16 in the fourth quarter, including 4-5 on threes.
Crowder got whacked in the face in the third quarter and left the game bleeding, but returned and was effective. Crowder said the Celtics wouldn’t be “punked” again tonight, and he made sure they weren’t. He hit his first shot, from the arc, and scrapped all night for nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and three blocked shots.
Gerald Green, not Jaylen Brown, was the first sub in the first quarter. Jaylen entered at the start of the second quarter. Jordan Mickey saw some minutes that normally would’ve gone to Tyler Zeller. Brown and Mickey both made contributions.
The Gross:
Rough night for Amir Johnson. He caught Cody Zeller’s jaw with an inadvertent elbow and was called for his second flagrant-one foul in three games. Amir also scored just two points with five rebounds in 21 minutes, and made little impact (although somehow he was a team-high +15!).
Charlotte coach Steve Clifford was hit with a technical in the third quarter. At the time, the Hornets had taken 18 more free throws than Boston. (Eye-roll emoji)
The Greenlights:
#Cetlics Rewind pres. by @NissanUSA: The C’s are 6 for 10 from behind the arc at the end of the 1st quarter. https://t.co/yu3ezkD94t
— CSN New England (@CSNNE) October 29, 2016
#Celtics Rewind is pres. by @NissanUSA: @Isaiah_Thomas takes it hard to the rim. https://t.co/ys7wepKDE6
— CSN New England (@CSNNE) October 30, 2016
.@FCHWPO lays it in off the glass for the and-1 https://t.co/5LXE9lken5
— CSN New England (@CSNNE) October 30, 2016
The Grid:
- FGs: Celtics 39-81, 48.1%; Hornets 32-79, 40.5%
- 3pt FGs: Celtics 15-31, 48.4%; Hornets, 9-32, 28.1%
- Points in the Paint: Celtics 36 (18/34), Hornets 32 (16/31)
- 2nd Chance Points: Celtics 10 (4/7), Hornets 6 (2/6)
- Fast Break Points: Celtics 4 (1/4), Hornets 7 (2/5)
- Biggest Lead: Celtics 14, Hornets 3
- Lead Changes: 3
