A flat start, off night for Jaylen Brown and Charlotte’s hot streak doomed Boston at TD Garden.
The Celtics (41-21) walked into Wednesday night riding one of their best stretches of the season.
They had won 12 of their previous 14 games, their defense had quietly climbed to the top of the league rankings, and even short-handed nights - like Monday’s blowout win over Milwaukee (26-35) - had started to feel routine.
Then the Hornets (32-31) arrived at TD Garden and flipped the script completely.
Charlotte handed Boston its most lopsided loss of the season, dominating from the opening tip in a 118-89 win that never truly felt competitive.
The Hornets jumped out to an 8-0 lead, pushed the advantage to double digits by the end of the first quarter, and never looked back.
By halftime, the Celtics trailed by 21 points - their largest halftime deficit of the year - and they never trimmed the margin closer than 16 the rest of the way.
Boston struggled everywhere.
The Celtics shot just 38% from the field and 27.8% from three-point range, while failing to generate the defensive stops that have defined much of their recent success.
Derrick White did everything he could to keep Boston afloat with a game-high 29 points, but Jaylen Brown (20 points) was the only other Celtic to reach double figures. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s offense stayed balanced and relentless, with rookie Kon Knueppel leading the way with 20 points while LaMelo Ball added 18 points and 7 rebounds.
The win extended Charlotte’s surge to six straight victories, and pushed them above .500 for the first time this season - continuing a remarkable turnaround under former Celtics assistant coach Charles Lee.
For Boston, it was the kind of night that serves as a reminder that even the league’s most consistent teams have occasional stumbles.
Mar 4, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel (7) controls the ball while Boston Celtics guard Hugo Gonzalez (28) defends during the second half at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara/Imagn Images)Here are four takeaways from the Celtics’ loss to the Hornets.
1. Worst First Half of 2025-26:
The Celtics have rarely come out flat this year, but that’s exactly what happened Wednesday.
Charlotte dictated the pace from the start, racing out to an early lead and building a 21-point advantage by halftime.
Boston shot just 33% from the field in the opening 24 minutes and struggled badly from deep, while White’s 17 first-half points accounted for nearly all of the offense.
Defensively, the Celtics were constantly a step behind. Charlotte’s uptempo attack generated easy transition opportunities and open perimeter looks, leading to 12 first-half three-pointers on 48% shooting. Eight different Hornets players knocked down a three before the break, prompting several frustrated timeouts from head coach Joe Mazzulla.
2. Rough Night For Bigs:
Boston’s frontcourt rotation has been a strength recently, particularly after the addition of Nikola Vucevic.
Wednesday was a different story.
Vucevic and Neemias Queta struggled to keep pace with Charlotte’s speed and spacing, frequently getting caught in transition or out of position in pick-and-roll coverage.
Offensively, neither player found any rhythm. The duo missed nine of their first 10 shots as Boston failed to take advantage of its size advantage.
Mazzulla even turned briefly to Luka Garza for extra minutes, but nothing seemed to stabilize the position.
3. Hornets Looking Dangerous:
Charlotte’s hot streak is becoming harder to dismiss as a fluke.
After beginning the season 4-14, the Hornets have gone 23-11 over their last 34 games and now sit at 32-31 following Wednesday’s victory.
Their offense has become one of the most explosive in the league, with multiple shooters capable of stretching the floor and pushing the pace.
They currently sit just two games behind Philadelphia (34-28) for the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference - meaning a first-round matchup with Boston is a realistic possibility.
The Celtics will see Charlotte twice more before the regular season ends, which could go a long way in shaping the playoff picture.
4. Brown’s Off Night:
Brown has been Boston’s most consistent scorer this season, averaging a team-high 29 points per game.
But Wednesday wasn’t his night.
The All-Star forward missed 12 of his first 17 shots and struggled to generate efficient looks inside the arc, finishing just 6 of 15 on two-point attempts.
With Boston’s three-point shooting also faltering, the offense never found a rhythm capable of keeping pace with Charlotte.
When Brown and the Celtics’ perimeter attack are out of sync, nights like this can happen - even during an otherwise dominant stretch of the season.
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Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.