Even on a rainy Sunday afternoon, the Celtics (32-29 overall, 13-18 away) sure didn't give us any reasons to pay attention to them for long today as they got blown out 125-104 by the Hornets (30-30 overall, 16-12 home) at the Spectrum Center. Charlotte shot an absurd 48.8% on 3-pointers (21-for-43) and they handed out a season-high 39 assists as well. Four Hornets scored at least 20 points led by point guard Devonte' Graham (24 points, 9 assists); center P.J. Washington added 22 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, former Celtic Terry Rozier notched 21 points, 11 assists and five rebounds while small forward Miles Bridges put up 20 points and six rebounds. With the loss, Boston fell two games behind both New York (34-27) and Atlanta (34-27) for fourth and fifth-place in the Eastern Conference. The C's are in sixth-place, tied with the Heat (32-29) and now only a game and a half in front of the Hornets.
It was just never really competitive as the Hornets were up double-digits in the first quarter which allowed them to cruise from there. Power forward Cody Martin had 13 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks in the win while another former Celtic-Brad Wanamaker-piled on with 12 points and two steals off the bench for Charlotte. There really was no excuse for suffering such a beating as other than center Robert Williams (left knee soreness), Celtics head coach Brad Stevens had about as close to a full lineup as he has used at any point of this cursed season. Point guard Kemba Walker (6 rebounds and 2 steals) along with shooting guard Jaylen Brown (8 rebounds and 2 steals) both paced the C's with 20 points apiece. Swingman Jayson Tatum (19 points, 11 rebounds) had another grimy double-double since he shot 6-of-16 from the field. Guard Marcus Smart (17 points) helped cut it to a six-point in the third quarter but that was as good as it would get for Boston.
The Celts return home for a critical four-game homestand: they host the awful Thunder (20-40 overall, 11-19 away)-who have lost 13 games in a row!-on Tuesday (7, NBC Sports Boston), followed by a rematch with Charlotte on Wednesday (7:30, NBC Sports Boston), the Spurs (30-29 overall, 17-10 away) are here on Friday (7:30, NBC Sports Boston) and it ends on Sunday (7:30, NBC Sports Boston) with Portland (32-28 overall, 16-12 away) who have lost five straight games. These are all winnable games for the C's although I could also seeing them losing the last three. Haha if they lose to Oklahoma City-who is tanking like you read about-I won't know what to say.
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