Celtics Rout Hornets 119-80 as Charlotte's Losing Streak Reaches Six

Jayson Tatum had 18 points by the end of the first quarter Friday night at Spectrum Center, and the Boston Celtics led the Charlotte Hornets by 20 after 12 minutes. Boston won the NBA Cup group-play game 119-80. Charlotte never held a lead.

The loss was the Hornets' sixth straight. At 3-7, they have not won since beating the Washington Wizards on Oct. 26, and two nights earlier they lost 114-104 at Brooklyn after leading at halftime. Boston improved to 7-2.

Charlotte missed its first seven shots, six of them 3-pointers. Ryan Kalkbrenner's reverse dunk on a Brandon Miller feed at 9:28 was the first Hornets basket, and Boston led 24-9 when Payton Pritchard hit a step-back 3 with 5:17 left in the quarter.

Boston had 13 second-chance points in the first quarter, going 4-of-4 on its second-chance field goal tries.

Hornets coach Charles Lee said part of the slow start might be on the coaching staff.

"I just thought that we weren't as sharp as we should have been," Lee said. "That might be on us, but just some plays I thought that characterized how that beginning of the game went. We turn it over, or we miss a shot, ball's out of bounds, and they are racing it down the other way and trying to get to an offensive possession. It ends up in a three, and I just thought a bunch of little competitive effort things that we're usually pretty tight with, offensive rebound, or they were offensive rebounding, and so I thought our defensive rebounding allowed them to gain a little bit of momentum."

"So I just thought in the early going, we laid out a couple screens, just things that aren't characteristic of how we typically play," Lee continued. "And I thought that as the game went on, we got a little bit better, but they had already found a rhythm at that point."

Charlotte got within 10 twice. Miller finished an alley-oop from Naz Reid at 4:25, and Hannes Steinbach tipped in a Reid miss at 3:48 to make it 26-16.

Boston closed the quarter on an 11-2 run. Tatum scored 8 of those points, and Sam Hauser's 30-footer with 14.9 seconds left made it 40-20.

Tatum went 6-of-11 in the period, 3-of-5 from deep, and made all three of his free throws. He also had 4 assists. Derrick White scored 10 in the quarter without missing a shot.

The Celtics shot 9-of-17 from 3-point range in the first 12 minutes. Charlotte went 2-of-14.

Miller checked out with 7:14 left in the second quarter, during a pair of Tidjane Salaün free throws, and did not return because of right groin soreness. He scored all 8 of his points in the opening period and finished 3-of-10 in 13:46.

Royce O'Neale and Reid each scored 7 in the second quarter. O'Neale made 2 of his 3 tries from deep in the period, and Reid scored on two floaters and a 27-foot 3-pointer.

Boston went 8-of-14 from beyond the arc in the second quarter and 17-of-31 in the first half. The Hornets shot 13-of-47 before the break, 5-of-23 from 3-point range.

Tatum reached halftime with 24 points. White had 18 at the break and did not score after it.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said Boston had lost the third quarter in similar spots against Chicago and Milwaukee.

"I think it was. I think it's a little bit of both," Mazzulla said. "They missed some shots, but I thought our connectivity and our closeouts and our physicality was really good. I gave a lot of credit, especially to that fourth-quarter unit. Those guys competed high level defensively."

"So I had a goal at halftime to win the third quarter," Mazzulla continued. "I think the guys did that with the defensive effort, and I think the guys in the fourth quarter kind of carried that."

Boston won the third 26-18. Tatum scored 10 in the period, 8 of them at the free throw line, and finished with 34 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists in 29:02. He went 11-of-11 from the line and sat out the fourth quarter.

Sion James scored all 11 of his points in the third. He went 4-of-4 in the quarter, including three 3-pointers, after missing all three of his first-half shots.

Neemias Queta and Mitchell Robinson combined for three alley-oop dunks in the quarter. Boston led 96-57 after three.

Pritchard said Boston, nine games in, is still trying things and has not hit peak form.

"Obviously, we're playing hard," Pritchard said. "It's a cup game, and obviously we want to win those games. But I just think trying to lead tonight, we just want to come in and really put our foot down. After Milwaukee game, played a good first half and then kind of let it slip. So wanted to kind of redeem ourselves and just come in and show force and all that. So I think we did an excellent job going into the second half and not letting up."

Boston's biggest lead was 46, on a 27-foot 3-pointer from Jordan Walsh at 3:26 of the fourth quarter that made it 115-69.

Salaün scored 8 of his 13 points in the fourth after sitting out the entire first quarter. He went 2-of-4 from deep in the period. Liam McNeeley had 7 of his 8 in the quarter.

Steinbach, recalled from the Greensboro Swarm on Friday along with Christian Anderson Jr., played a team-high 27:13 and finished with 4 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks. His dunk off a McNeeley steal with 33.4 seconds left was Charlotte's last basket.

Reid led the Hornets with 14 points on 6-of-17 shooting. Charlotte shot 29.3% from the field and 11-of-50 from 3-point range. Boston went 24-of-44 from deep and assisted on 33 of its 38 field goals.

Charlotte played without Kon Knueppel and Grant Williams, both out with hamstring strains, along with Moussa Diabaté and Dennis Schröder. Knueppel left his season debut at Brooklyn after 5:51 with left leg soreness. Diabaté, out with right quadriceps tendinopathy, had started the first nine games. Schröder sat with left thigh soreness.

The announced crowd of 19,586 was a sellout.

The Hornets host the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7 p.m. ET on Monday, then play at Phoenix on Thursday.