Tatum, Walker lead Celtics over Hornets

BOSTON — The Boston Celtics found a game plan that worked in crunch time against the Charlotte Hornets.

They got the ball to Jayson Tatum and got out of the way.


Tatum scored 22 of his career-high 39 points in the fourth quarter and grabbed 12 rebounds as Boston pulled away and beat Charlotte 119-93 on Sunday night.

“I was really happy with our team for finding him,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “As he got hot, they were locked into him.”

Tatum eclipsed his previous high of 34 points against Brooklyn on Jan. 14. The promising 21-year-old forward didn’t have a 30-point game before that but has now had four.

“I just try to stay aggressive no matter what,” Tatum said. “I feel like we’ve done a good job this year with (finding) different guys. Just trying to continue to make the right play but find the guy that’s hot.”

Kemba Walker added 23 points against his former team. Jaylen Brown had 16 points and nine rebounds, and rookie Grant Williams added 12 points off the bench for the Celtics. Boston has won three straight and seven of nine.


Devonte’ Graham had 23 points and 10 assists, Bismack Biyombo scored 18 and Miles Bridges 15 to lead the Hornets. Charlotte has dropped three straight and four of five.

Terry Rozier scored 14 for the Hornets in his return to Boston. He left the team in free agency last summer. Rozier finished with three points on 1-of-11 shooting in a 108-87 home loss to Boston on Nov. 7.

Rozier didn’t get a video tribute as some ex-Celtics do in their return, but a small picture of him with the caption “welcome back” was hung outside the Hornets’ locker room.

“Yeah, I think I need a bigger sign,” Rozier said with a laugh.


Walker had 14 points on 4-of-12 shooting in his return to Charlotte in November. Walker left the Hornets in July after eight seasons, joining the Celtics on a four-year, $141 million deal in free agency.

Boston opened the game’s first double-digit lead at 72-62 on a 3-pointer from the right corner by Semi Ojeleye with 7:24 left in the third quarter.

Charlotte pulled within 75-73 after Biyombo’s floater with 4:30 left capped an 11-3 run.

Malik Monk’s three-point play 13 seconds into the fourth cut the Celtics’ lead to 84-80, but Tatum scored 17 of the Celtics’ next 19 points to blow the game open.

“You know he’s going to score at some point,” Charlotte’s Marvin Williams said of Tatum. “You just hope he doesn’t get 40 like he did tonight. He’s good enough to get 40. It’s just one of those nights for him.”

Tatum’s step-back 3-pointer with 4:30 remaining gave him a career high.

Tatum’s late surge reminded Rozier of what it felt like to go on a run in front of the Boston crowd.

“There’s nothing better than these fans. They make you feel like you can touch the sky. He did just that,” Rozier said. “He’s a superstar in the making and just killed us tonight.”

Boston led by as many as 26 points in the closing minutes.

Graham scored 17 points as Charlotte led 37-30 after one quarter, but the second-year guard was held to two in the second and Boston took a 59-56 lead into halftime.


KEMBA-LIKE

Graham was hot in the first quarter, going 5 for 6 from beyond the arc. Graham tied a franchise record for 3-pointers in a quarter, a record shared by ex-Hornet Walker. Graham’s 17 first-quarter points also matched Walker for the most by a Hornets player in the last two seasons.

NOT SO SCARY

Rozier, nicknamed “Scary Terry” during his tenure in Boston, is a combined 7 for 28 in two games against his former team.

TACKO TIME II

For the second straight game, the crowd erupted when Celtics’ 7-foot-5 reserve Tacko Fall stood up to check in with three and a half minutes remaining. The crowd again chanted “MVP!” and cheered wildly for every play Fall was involved in. Fall finished with four points, two rebounds, and a block.

TIP-INS

Hornets: Rookie F P.J. Washington was sidelined for a fifth straight game after fracturing his right pinkie finger on Dec. 13 at Chicago. Washington, the No. 12 overall pick in this year’s draft, is averaging 12.3 points through 28 games.

Celtics: F Gordon Hayward (sore left foot) sat out a third straight game, but coach Brad Stevens said he “felt better” after a morning workout. “I would guess he’ll be bumped up to probable after today,” Stevens said. … G Marcus Smart (eye infection) has been cleared to work out at the team’s facilities. Stevens said he expects Smart to return shortly after a six-game absence. … G Carsen Edwards was available after being considered probable with a right quad contusion. Edwards was recalled from Maine of the NBA G-League before the game.

UP NEXT

Hornets: Host Thunder on Friday night.

Celtics: Visit defending champion Raptors at noon on Christmas Day.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Kemba Walker suffers concussion against Nuggets

Boston guard Kemba Walker was diagnosed with a likely concussion after being stretchered off the court during the second quarter of the Celtics’ 106-102 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday.

Walker had his head down and collided head first into the stomach of teammate Semi Ojeleye with just over three minutes remaining in the first half.

Walker lay motionless for a few minutes and paramedics put a neck brace on him before he was eventually removed from the floor.

The club announced after the game that Walker was being examined at a local hospital for a concussion.

The 29-year-old veteran is in his first season with the Celtics, averaging 22.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 14 games.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Tony Parker has 24 points, Hornets beat Pistons

DETROIT — Most of the stars of the 2005 NBA Finals have been out of the league for several years.

Tony Parker, is still beating the Detroit Pistons.


Sunday, he faced them for the first time as a member of the Charlotte Hornets, but the results weren’t any different. The 36-year-old scored 24 points in 28 minutes off the bench to lead Charlotte to a 113-103 victory.

“That’s what Tony does. I’m just surprised that he never loses any of his speed and quickness,” Pistons coach Dwane Casey said. “He got to every spot he wanted to out there, and we weren’t stopping him.

“He’s probably going to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but we’ve got to be better.”

Parker improved to 20-11 in the regular season against the Pistons, first playing them as a 19-year-old with San Antonio on Jan. 2, 2002. The Spurs also beat Detroit in seven games in the 2005 finals.

″(Tony) is a leader,” said Kemba Walker, who had 24 points and seven assists. “He brings passion and the winning attitude. He just knows how to win.”

Cody Zeller added 14 points as Charlotte won for the third time in four games.

“I thought they were great tonight,” Charlotte coach James Borrego said. “Their effort and their attention to detail were fantastic. I’m really proud of our group on both ends of the floor.”

Andre Drummond had 23 points and 22 rebounds for the Pistons, and Reggie Bullock had a career-high 23 points, hitting six 3-pointers. Detroit has lost six of eight after a 4-0 start.

“We are our own worst enemies,” Casey said. “We have to make shots and we have to stop getting caught out of position on defense. I’m going to have to make sure everyone understands our defensive assignments.”


Detroit’s Blake Griffin was given a flagrant-2 foul and ejected with 7:06 to play for a shoulder check on Malik Monk. Griffin shot 4-for-16, missing all five 3-pointers, and is 6-for-26 in his last two games.

“We’re asking Blake to carry too much of a load right now,” Casey said. “He’s bringing the ball up the floor, then going into the post and getting hit on every shot. It’s taking a toll on him.”

The Hornets started the third quarter with a 10-2 run to go ahead 61-51, and only 12 points from Bullock in the quarter kept Detroit within eight going into the fourth. Walker had nine points in the quarter and Charlotte went 6 of 8 on 3-pointers.

“We played hard and we played the right way, but the challenge is not getting frustrated,” said Reggie Jackson. “We have to find a way to stay consistent all game.”

Charlotte also jumped on the Pistons at the beginning of the fourth. The Hornets scored the first eight points to take a 16-point lead.

“I think it was really about urgency,” Borrego said. “It isn’t about playing perfect basketball but playing with urgency and aggressiveness for 48 minutes.”

Charlotte rookie Miles Bridges, who played at Michigan State, delighted a huge group of friends and family with an uncontested windmill dunk to make it 95-77 with 8:51 left.

“This was great, especially getting the win,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t going to be a star right away on a team with Kemba, so I’m just adjusting to the league and learning my spots.”

TIP INS

Hornets: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist left early in the second quarter with a sprained right ankle and did not return. Kidd-Gilchrist had 12 points and 12 rebounds in a 133-132 overtime loss at Philadelphia on Friday night.

Pistons: Drummond’s 20-20 game was the 25th of his career and his 301st double-double. He leads both categories since he joined the NBA in 2012-13.

UP NEXT

Hornets: At Cleveland on Tuesday night.

Pistons: At Toronto on Wednesday night.

source: sports.inquirer.net