The Boston Celtics bounced back from their blowout loss to the Orlando Magic by completely annihilating the Charlotte Hornets 130-94 in their penultimate game of the season Friday night at TD Garden.
The C’s improved to 60-21, their second straight season of 60-plus wins, while the Hornets dropped to 19-62.
The Hornets kept it close in the first half, with the Celtics taking the 54-53 lead into the room. However, in the second half, Boston flipped the script and never looked back.
The Celtics, without Jaylen Brown, had a massive edge shooting 51.6% from the field on 49-of-95 shooting, while the lowly Hornets knocked down just 36-of-93 (38.7%) attempts.
Here are four studs and one dud from Boston’s rout of Charlotte:
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STUDS
Derrick White
White was a workhorse for this Celtics team, doing it all on the court. He brings energy to the court on a nightly basis, and it was no different against the Hornets. White knocked down 19 points to lead all starters on 8-for-12 shooting. He dished out seven assists, collected three rebounds, blocked four shots and added a steal in his 34 minutes.
Al Horford
Horford had two points, four rebounds and one block while shooting 1-for-4 from the field in his first ten minutes of playing time. Not exactly stud stats, but the Celtics’ big man made NBA history during that span. Horford became just the fourth player in NBA history with 1,300-plus blocks and 900-plus three-pointers made. He finished the night with a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds — 10 of which came off the defensive glass — to go along with two assists.
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Payton Pritchard
Pritchard put up classic Pritchard numbers off the bench for the Celtics. The NBA’s Sixth Man Award candidate sunk four triples and hit 9-of-11 shots to net 22 points in 22 minutes.
Sam Hauser
It was as if Hauser and the rest of the Celtics bench had something to prove after the poor outing against the Magic on Wednesday night. He went 7-for-12 from the field, including knocking down six from beyond the arc for 20 points.
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DUDS
The Hornets’ Second-Half Game
After trailing by just a single point at the end of the second quarter and at one point holding a seven-point lead in the first half, the Hornets simply could not compete with the dominant defending NBA champions. Charlotte had 17 turnovers in the game, and Boston made the Hornets pay by outscoring them 31-6 in that category.
Featured image via Eric Canha/Imagn Images
