Post Game - Celtics at Hornets - Monday, November 20 (L-OT)

Celtics-Hornets takeaways: Tatum, C's fall just short in OT thriller

https://sports.yahoo.com/celtics-hornets-takeaways-tatum-cs-031225842.html

Justin Leger
Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 10:17 PM EST·5 min read



Celtics-Hornets takeaways: Tatum, C's fall just short in OT thriller originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Three Key Storylines

Free throws aren't free
Non-Tatum starters struggle
Tatum, Pritchard do their part

The Boston Celtics' six-game win streak was snapped Monday night as they fell to the Charlotte Hornets in an overtime thriller at Spectrum Center.

On the second night of a back-to-back, the C's showed some signs of fatigue and failed to maintain multiple double-digit leads over the Hornets. Charlotte overcame an 18-point deficit early on and an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force OT.

Hornets star LaMelo Ball (36 points) came through with a clutch layup that tied the game at 108 with seven seconds remaining in the fourth. Miles Bridges (14 points) drilled what turned out to be the game-winner with 6.6 seconds left in OT.



The Celtics' loss brings them to 12-3 on the season. They'll return home to host the Milwaukee Bucks in a much-anticipated matchup Wednesday night.

First, here are our takeaways from Monday's defeat.

Free throws aren't free

Jayson Tatum stepped to the line for three free-throw attempts with 5.2 seconds left in overtime. If he hit all three, he would have tied the game at 109.

He hit the first two and missed the third in what was a fitting end to the game for Boston.

The C's had a miserable night at the charity stripe. Jrue Holiday missed two free throws with 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter to keep it a one-possession game for Charlotte. Kristaps Porzingis missed four of his 10 free-throw attempts

Had the Celtics hit just a few more shots from the line, they'd be heading back home with their seventh straight win. Instead, they were just 18-of-28 from the line while the Hornets were a near-perfect 16-for-17. That was the difference.

Jayson Tatum's reign in Charlotte continues

Over the summer, Tatum opened up about playing with the same intensity in Charlotte that he would in a marquee matchup against a rival opponent.

"I don't decide, 'We're playing the Hornets tonight and I'ma chill,'" he said. "I only get to go to Charlotte two times a year. Somebody paid their money to come watch me play.

"Not trying to be arrogant, but it's a bunch of kids in there with my shoes and my jersey. And just because we're playing Charlotte on NBA League Pass on a Monday and ain't nobody (expletive) watching, 'Yeah, I'm chilling tonight'. That's not what the best players do."

The Duke product, who entered with four career 40+ point games vs. Charlotte, backed the statement up again on Monday night.

Tatum tied his career-high with 31 first-half points. With his 24th point in the first half, he passed Chicago Bulls legend and former Hornets owner Michael Jordan (10,238) on the NBA’s all-time scoring list for players 25 and under.

He also became the first Celtics player on record to rack up at least 30 points and nine rebounds in a half.

The four-time All-Star went on to hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with just under a minute left in OT. And although he'd likely trade his season-high 45 points for that one missed free throw in overtime, he isn't to blame for the loss. He's the only reason the sluggish Celtics were in it to begin with.

Tatum became the second player in Celtics history to tally at least 45 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists in a game. Larry Bird accomplished the feat four times.

Rough night for non-Tatum starters

While Tatum shined, the rest of the Celtics' starting lineup looked like a group on the second night of a back-to-back.

Tatum shot 15-for-28 from the floor, including 7-of-15 from 3-point range. Fellow starters Sam Hauser, Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, and Jaylen Brown were a combined 16-for-51 and just 3-for-25 from deep.

Hauser, who's been scorching hot in November, was an uncharacteristic 1-for-9 from 3. Porzingis (5-14, 1-8 3-PT) looked tired after propelling the Celtics to a hard-fought win over Memphis on Sunday. Holiday had seven turnovers in addition to his two critical missed free throws. Brown was just 5-for-17 from the floor and found himself in foul trouble throughout the second half.

Perhaps we can chalk the group's poor performance to fatigue on the final night of their four-game road trip. They'll need to snap out of it when they return home to take on the Bucks on Wednesday night.

Payton Pritchard finds his groove

Pritchard has struggled from beyond the arc since his stellar preseason. Although he's found more success recently, he entered Monday's game shooting just 24.4 percent from 3.

He boosted that number with a spectacular performance in Charlotte.

Pritchard made the most of his early minutes by drilling all four of his 3-point attempts in the first quarter. Putting his early-season struggles in perspective, his fourth 3-pointer of the campaign came on his 21st attempt.

The "crypto scammer" notched a season-high 16 points in the first half alone.

With Derrick White (personal reasons) out and the rest of the roster struggling, Pritchard stepped up. He finished with 21 points (8-14 FG, 5-8 3-PT), six rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

From another perspective:

Hornets rally late, pull out OT win to end Celts' streak

https://www.charlottenews.net/news/274040240/hornets-rally-late-pull-out-ot-win-to-end-celts-streak

Field Level Media
21 Nov 2023, 12:55 GMT+10

(Photo credit: Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports)

Miles Bridges, recently reinstated from an NBA suspension, drilled a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 6.1 seconds left in overtime as the Charlotte Hornets pulled out a 121-118 victory against the visiting Boston Celtics on Monday.

Charlotte used a startling fourth-quarter comeback, scoring the last nine points in regulation over a span final two minutes, en route to snapping a four-game losing streak.

LaMelo Ball contributed 36 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the Hornets. Ex-Celtic Gordon Hayward had 20 points, Mark Williams posted 18 points and 16 rebounds, Bridges finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds and P.J. Washington had 15 points off the bench.

Jayson Tatum scored 31 of his 45 points in the first half for the Celtics, whose six-game winning streak ended. He also had team-high totals in rebounds (13) and assists (six).

Boston's Payton Pritchard produced 21 points off the bench, while teammates Kristaps Porzingis (17 points), Jaylen Brown (13) and Jrue Holiday (11) were also in double figures.

After Bridges' basket, Tatum made two free throws and Hayward matched that to account for the final score.

Until the final minutes Monday, the Celtics had a wildly successful four-game road trip -- and they were greeted by many of their adoring fans on this final stop.

Bridges played in his third game since serving a suspension stemming from a domestic violence case, but he was in the starting lineup for the first time. Bridges replaced Washington.

Charlotte, which was down 11 points with six minutes left, trailed 108-99 with two minutes to go before rallying.

Williams' putback of an offensive rebound made it a two-point game with 33 seconds left.

Holiday missed a pair of free throws with 10.1 seconds to play in regulation, and Ball's driving, double-clutch layup tied the score with seven seconds left. Boston's Sam Hauser missed a potential winning shot at the regulation buzzer.

The Celtics led 65-54 at halftime. Charlotte was within 90-87 on Washington's jumper with about 9 1/2 minutes to play.

Ball had 17 first-half points, but that seemed pedestrian compared to Tatum, who shot 10-for-15 from the floor and sank five 3-pointers in the half.

--Field Level Media

Rebounding, offensive and defensive were a factor,  celtics better realize everyone is gunning for them.  Missed free throws drive me nuts. It showed tired legs,  red used yell at the guys to bend their knees,Celtic legs were tired!!get ready boys Giannis is gunning for you

Yeah. We should have seen this coming. This is probably a good thing to wake us up for tomorrow. Same here, Rosalie. Don't understand the freebies. KP was building a shopping mall from the line. Something else that has been bothering me is he's front-rimming all his 3's right out of the gate for at least the last two games. Playing with an injury? Thank God he knows to go inside and get an And 1.

JT was spectacular. I don't think I saw him miss a shot last night, that's how hot he was. Didn't need Doogie with Pritch getting in stride. Take your seat at the table Pritch. You've earned it. That's 8. Now on to the rest of the bench to find 9-11 for further exploration.

I'm not too worried about us blowing the lead. I don't think it raises any concerns just yet, especially on a B2B and sans DW and Al. That's a big ask.

I'll start a pre-Bucks thread. Only one match up that should concern us and it will tell us a whole lot. I think you know where I'm going. Another big early season Clash of the Titans.

db

We didn't deserve to beat Memphis, but we did. We didn't deserve to win last night either, and we didn't. Our largest lead was 18. It's hard to say nice things when you're playing a vastly inferior team, are up 18 points, and lose.

Rosalie got it just right, our legs were tired, you could see it. Why? Because Joe has been playing his starters heavy minutes, just like last year, and we know how they were by the end of the season. If you back out the 5 minutes of OT our starters have played 335 minutes vs Memphis and Charlotte. Simple average is 33.5mpg each starter. That's a lot of minutes on b2bs, especially against inferior teams like Memphis and Charlotte. We weren't playing Milwaukee and Philly here. Every time I think I see Joe take a step forward, he takes a step back. The Cha-Cha. I appreciate his competitiveness, that he wants to win every one, but he's the head coach. He's supposed to think strategically, and I'm not seeing it. Last night, with 2 starters out and a 3rd with a mild groin pull and he went with an 8 player squad, the 9th player being Svi who only played 9 minutes. If I was Lamar I'd quietly ask for a trade. He started 25 games last year for a pretty good Cavalier team and he has only played 20 minutes total this season. Jaylen < 100% physically, can't throw the ball in the ocean from the end of the pier and playing matador defense against Ball, no Derrick, and Joe won't play Lamar? A two point game, 10.1 seconds left in regulation, and Joe pulls Porzingis on a Charlotte in bounds play and puts Oshae in and Ball gets a layup. WTF?! They only needed two, Joe, there was no need for you to defend as if they needed 3 and only 3.

We shot 18-28 from the line. They only got 17 ftas, so we can't say anything about that, but they hit 16 of 17. Porzingis was 6-10, Jrue 0-2. Self-inflicted wounds.

They had 17 offensive rebounds, Mark Williams had 8 of them (he had 16 total). Setting aside how much I love getting offensive rebounds and hate giving them up, how does a team with 7'3" Kristaps Porzingis give up 8 offensive rebounds to one player?! I realize Williams is 7'1", but offensive rebounding is about effort and drawing away their defender. You match effort for effort and the coach addresses the defensive scheme failures in time outs. Not much effort from Z last night and, as far as the coach fixing the defense in huddles and halftime goes, well?


How did 4 seconds run off the clock on that final rebound? That wasn't 4 seconds. I can't believe they didn't check the clock. Joe already used his challenge, and lost, so he couldn't demand it.


The Celtics were up 108-99 with 2 minutes left in regulation. There's no excuse for that, no excuse for a 9-0 run over the last 2 minutes, not even fatigue.

Tatum blew a layup with 56 seconds left in regulation that would have put us up 6. Our last points in regulation were with 2:20 left. In those 2:20 we went 0-4. Tatum blew that layup, Jaylen was 0-2 and Sam missed a 26 foot buzzer beater. There were also those two missed fritos by Jrue with us up 2 and only 10.1 seconds left. That's fatigue. We had two chances to put them away in regulation and we blew them both.

In OT Jaylen Brown just couldn't stop taking 3s. He took, and missed, a 3 with :30 left and the score tied. 30 seconds is barely enough for a 2-for-1, so why take a 3? That was just plain laziness brought on by flagging energy and unflagging hubris.

Jaylen Brown played one of the worst games I've seen from him in a very, very long time. 5-17, 0-5 from 3. Couldn't throw the ball in the ocean from the end of the pier but that didn't stop him from shooting anyway, did it? Jaylen shouldn't have been in there in the first place, between groin pull and his inability to score or guard Lomelo Ball. A truly awful game, worthy of reduced minutes, but that isn't going to happen with Joe Mazzulla. Joe just lets them do what they want.

Jrue with 7 of our 13 turnovers, Some of them were just dumb. I'll write that off to fatigue too. A game that is mentally slow most of the time becomes too fast when you're tired.

Porzingis was 5-14 and 1-8 from 3. More laziness, more fatigue. Charlotte doesn't have a pivot player that could stop Z, so why was more than half his shots from 3? Because fighting for low post position is hard work even with a mismatch and you don't want to work hard when you're tired, you want to take the easy road and that's just launching from downtown. You don't even have to run the full 94'.

Every one of our starters had a negative +/-, including Tatum. Every one of our bench players had a positive +/-. I realize Joe's not staring at these stats during a game, but he could see his starters were struggling, he could see that Pritchard was doing an extremely effective job of leading the 2nd unit.


Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
yesterday
The Pritchard/Hauser/Brissett/Svi/Kornet group with one of the Celtics' better stretches of the game to start the 4th.

Joe sent 3 starters (Jayson, Z, Jaylen) in for Oshae, Svi and Luke with 6:38 left in the 4th. Sam was already on the floor, so the only reserve left playing was Payton. The score was 97-89, an 8 point lead. The 4th quarter began with us having a 6 point lead, so that reserve unit added 2 points to the lead while bleeding off almost half the quarter. A good job by them.


Steve Bulpett
@SteveBHoop
The Celtics come undone in 7 sloppy minutes, as explained in the Sultan of Stat's first note. (The part about the free throws is pretty wild.)

Some nice stuff about Tatum's expanding resume, but otherwise gory details of the OT loss to Charlotte from the irrepressible Dick Lipe.





Pritchard with 21 points on 8-14, 5-8 from 3, 6 rebounds, 2 offensive and 3 assists without any turnovers in 33 minutes. Leaving him in was the smartest thing Joe did.

Jay King @ByJayKing
about 4 hours ago
Over the last 11 games, Payton Pritchard has just four total turnovers. He has 38 assists during that time. Among all players averaging at least 20 minutes per game, he's seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio for the full season. Has taken great care of the ball so far.


Sean Grande
Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 5 hours ago
With his +16 in a game the Celtics lost by 3, Payton Pritchard has taken over the NBA lead in Net Rating (+16.3). Derrick White is 4th, Jayson Tatum (-5 on Monday) drops from 1st to 5th. No Crypto scam warning here...it's legit. Fast P started from the bottom now he's here.


Bob


.

With little on the bench that can give you extended minutes, B2B games and tight road schedules will be a problem. This is where lack of depth will hurt this season.

There is no choice but to play your starters extended minutes. The bench is extremely shallow. Take away White and Horford, and you’ve punched a huge hole in your odds.

Perhaps later in the season there will be an opportunity to reinforce the bench.

For the technologically challenged, can someone explain crypto-scammer? I know it's a nickname for Pritch but I don't get it. Although it's hard to wrestle the game ball from Tatum, Pritch deserves it just as much.

db

cowens/oldschool wrote:Unless Joe figures out how to better use the bench, b2b will be an issue. I would hope guys like Brissett and Stevens can find a role. Jaylen really should not have played if I’m coaching. We still could have had it, a missed lay up and FT’s, you could say we gave it away. Pritch with a big game and Jayson showing what kind of leader he is, going off carrying the team.

It’s still early, I’d be concerned as Bob pointed out, if Joe keeps overextending the J’s and other starters minutes….

I think the issue is that Joe can't use the bench. Not if he wants to win games.

I believe we may have one of the best starting lineups in the league, and one of the worst bench units. After Horford, who is old but experienced and able about 80% of the time, you have Pritchard and Hauser. Neither of those are consistent and neither are going to get a single vote for DPOY. Following those two you have... Nearly nothing you would want to have on your NBA payroll IMO. Stevens can defend, but is not going to give you offense, Banton is the opposite of Stevens. After that? Crickets.

This is the NBA today, and I am convinced it will get more extreme as the latest CBA rules fully kick in. You can have a great starting unit, or a balanced but unspectacular team.

Want to win a title? Spend your money on 5, maybe 6 strong players and run them until they drop. Hopefully they last through game 7 of the finals.

This is exactly how the Celtics are built.

dbrown4 wrote:For the technologically challenged, can someone explain crypto-scammer?  I know it's a nickname for Pritch but I don't get it.  Although it's hard to wrestle the game ball from Tatum, Pritch deserves it just as much.    

db

dbrown,

Crypto-currency is a digital currency that is accessed via online "wallets" that are encrypted.  A crypto-scammer is someone who cons people out of their crypto-currency (or out of their USD by convincing them to buy bogus crypto-currency) by offering illegal deals.  The most famous/infamous of these crypto-scammers is Sam Bankman-Fried, who ran one of the world's largest crypto-currency exchanges (think of it like a currency market exchange, where you can buy and sell US Dollars, Euros, Japanese Yen, etc, except only for crypto-currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, with a single input/exit port for USD so you can begin the trading with assets).  Bankman-Fried has recently been found guilty by a jury of fraud and money-laundering and is awaiting sentencing.  He's facing decades in prison.

Payton Pritchard got his nickname "Crypto-scammer" from one of, if not THE, top rappers in the music industry, Drake (net worth $250M).  Drake is from Toronto and is a HUGE Raptor and Maple Leaf fan and attends many of their games.  When we played Toronto late last week Drake visited the announcer's booth.  Pritchard was driving to the rim with the ball and Drake said he "Payton Pritchard is out there looking like a crypto-scammer".

If you want to hear what a Canadian rapper sounds like when he's not rapping, here you go:





Pritch, for his part, took it all in good humor.






Bob


.

Tired legs. B2B, thin bench is still no excuse for blowing a nine point lead with a little over 2 minutes left. If you are a championship level team you have to figure it out. I'll cut them a little slack because the starters are still figuring out how to play with each other.

It shows how important D White is to the team. If he's in there, with his steadiness, they figure it out and probably win. It's just one game and they have to learn from it. You can't miss FTs, even with tired legs. I'm shocked Holiday bricked those two. Two nights in a row, he has cost us in the last few seconds. We got way with one, not the other. However, I do believe Holiday is a clutch player and will make many more big plays than big mistakes.

I do agree Joe has to manage the starters minutes, can't have them gassed by playoff time.

On to the Bucks, this one should interesting and we will see what we got at this juncture.

Celtics17 wrote:Tired legs. B2B, thin bench is still no excuse for blowing a nine point lead with a little over 2 minutes left. If you are a championship level team you have to figure it out. I'll cut them a little slack because the starters are still figuring out how to play with each other.

It shows how important D White is to the team. If he's in there, with his steadiness, they figure it out and probably win. It's just one game and they have to learn from it. You can't miss FTs, even with tired legs. I'm shocked Holiday bricked those two. Two nights in a row, he has cost us in the last few seconds. We got way with one, not the other. However, I do believe Holiday is a clutch player and will make many more big plays than big mistakes.

I do agree Joe has to manage the starters minutes, can't have them gassed by playoff time.

On to the Bucks, this one should interesting and we will see what we got at this juncture.

+1

I believe Holliday will help win more games than the other way around as well.  

A problem with the bench is consistency.  If they can get both Payton and Sam to even out their contributions, then they can mix in some other players, but that consistency is hard to find.

I don't understand why Luke doesn't get 10-15 minutes per game, every game.  He comes in and does a fine job, then he sits out for games.  That will at least reduce minutes from Al and Zinger.

One more thing, if Jaylen is not 100% he should have sat out the last two games.  I didn't get to watch the Charlotte game, but in the other one, he seemed off.

They are 12 and three, on pace to win aroud 65 games.I'll take it.Hauser, Al and PP are the only reliable bench players.Kornet in a pinch. Maybe Svi , but he duplicates Hauser, who has been, stating the obvious, red hot. You can't expect a bunch of end of benchers to come to Boston and suddenly turn into tyros. Joe is stacking wins .Stars sit in blowouts and we haven't had many lately. Weak benches are dictated by the NBA salary structure. Maybe Celts will catch lightning in a bottle with somebody like Banton. I expect Walsh to eventually come up and contribute.Meanwhile, the guys aare ready, no doubt for some beans, chowder, chowder, and The Dropkick Murphys.

cowens/oldschool wrote:

NYCelt wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:Unless Joe figures out how to better use the bench, b2b will be an issue. I would hope guys like Brissett and Stevens can find a role. Jaylen really should not have played if I’m coaching. We still could have had it, a missed lay up and FT’s, you could say we gave it away. Pritch with a big game and Jayson showing what kind of leader he is, going off carrying the team.

It’s still early, I’d be concerned as Bob pointed out, if Joe keeps overextending the J’s and other starters minutes….

I think the issue is that Joe can't use the bench. Not if he wants to win games.

I believe we may have one of the best starting lineups in the league, and one of the worst bench units. After Horford, who is old but experienced and able about 80% of the time, you have Pritchard and Hauser. Neither of those are consistent and neither are going to get a single vote for DPOY. Following those two you have... Nearly nothing you would want to have on your NBA payroll IMO. Stevens can defend, but is not going to give you offense, Banton is the opposite of Stevens. After that? Crickets.

This is the NBA today, and I am convinced it will get more extreme as the latest CBA rules fully kick in. You can have a great starting unit, or a balanced but unspectacular team.

Want to win a title? Spend your money on 5, maybe 6 strong players and run them until they drop. Hopefully they last through game 7 of the finals.

This is exactly how the Celtics are built.

I think Stevens can do more than defend, he can score around the basket, he would also be playing with alot more talent than ever before. He’s the opposite of Hauser. I also think Banton can develop/contribute as a 2 way player, on offense he has some point skills. He adds alot of defensive length in the backcourt. I would agree neither is a finished product, but that’s the state of the team, a lot of new young parts. Red knew how to get alot out of different skill sets in a different era. Emmette Bryant was a 3rd string point guard on the Knicks, he gets acquired by the Celtics in 69 and is the starting pg on the final championship team. He was effective enough in his role because he was playing with Russell, Havlicek, Sam Jones and Bailey Howell who obviously did all the heavy lifting. I’m not asking any of them to avg 14-15 points a game, just hustle within your role, defend, add as much energy, play off the starters. Joe has to just use them enough, giving breathers to make sure the starters are not getting burnt out.

A player we just missed out on was Theis, wish we could have made some kind of deal and make the value work, but our bench guys are under such small contracts.

Emmett Bryant? Now we’re really going back! How can you possibly remember that one? After all, you and I are only in our 30s. OK, I know, I have gray hairs older than 30.

Stevens did show an ability to score. I would like to see him get minutes. He did a good job in extended minutes when starting for Cleveland.

You know, if all the players Red picked up over the years, I can honestly say, I could not stand Emmett Bryant. There was just something about that guy that rubbed me the wrong way, I could never root for him!!!!!! That says something about me, I never ever root against a Celtic!!!!!!!!!

RosalieTCeltics wrote:You know, if all the players Red picked up over the years, I can honestly say, I could not stand Emmett Bryant.  There was just something about that guy that rubbed me the wrong way,  I could never root for him!!!!!!  That says something about me, I never ever root against a Celtic!!!!!!!!!

Wow Rosalie, rooting against a Celtic not named Wicks, Rowe or Blount??? We’ll blame it on your youth!