Hornets Commit 30 Turnovers in Preseason Loss to Celtics

The Charlotte Hornets committed 30 turnovers Wednesday night at TD Garden, seven of them in the first quarter. The Boston Celtics scored 27 points off those giveaways and won the preseason game 114-93.

Charlotte fell to 1-2 in the preseason. Boston is 3-0.

The Hornets played without Kon Knueppel (hamstring), Coby White (calf), and Grant Williams (hamstring). Grayson Allen missed a second straight game after sitting out Sunday with a knee injury, and Kylan Boswell was listed out with a knee injury of his own.

Dennis Schröder, Brandon Miller, Royce O'Neale, Naz Reid, and Moussa Diabaté started. O'Neale scored 12 points and went 4-of-4 from 3-point range.

Off the bench, Tidjane Salaün scored 16 points and made four 3-pointers in 22 minutes. Salaün has said he wants to put more pressure on the rim.

Miller also finished with 16 points. He added 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals in a team-high 27 minutes. Christian Anderson Jr. scored 10 points in his preseason debut.

Boston led 28-20 after one quarter and 54-44 at halftime. In the third quarter, the deficit grew to 18 before Charlotte put together a 14-3 run that cut it to six. The Celtics carried an 85-77 lead into the fourth, then opened the period on a 15-7 run.

From 3-point range, Charlotte went 16-of-42, or 38%. Boston was 11-of-39, or 28%. Entering Wednesday, the Celtics ranked first in the league this preseason at 19.5 made 3-pointers per game, and the Hornets were tied for second at 16.5.

Inside the arc, Boston outscored Charlotte 56-20 in the paint.

Jayson Tatum led Boston with 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists on 8-of-17 shooting. Neemias Queta scored 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting off the bench. Payton Pritchard handed out 11 assists.

Hornets coach Charles Lee is in his third season in Charlotte. Before taking the job, he was an assistant on Boston's 2023-24 championship staff. Lee described the Hornets as not a finished product heading into the two-game road trip.

Boston grabbed 19 offensive rebounds Saturday in a 144-106 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Keeping the Celtics off the offensive glass was part of Charlotte's game plan Wednesday.

Lee liked the way his group handled that assignment, even if the turnover problem overwhelmed the positives.

"That's great effort," Lee said. "I think it's great attention to detail we talked about before the game. This is one of the best offensive rebounding teams. They're really relentless, and I thought our guys had really good carryover from a point of the game plan that we talked about."

"I wish that we would not have given them the ball, though, 30 times on the flip side," Lee continued.

On Sunday, Charlotte committed 14 turnovers in a 105-90 home win over the Milwaukee Bucks. The Hornets opened the preseason Oct. 6 with a 124-90 loss to the Brooklyn Nets at Spectrum Center.

Wednesday was the Hornets' sixth straight preseason loss to Boston. Their last exhibition win over the Celtics came Sept. 28, 2018, by a 104-97 score in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Lee liked the middle two quarters, which the teams split 57-57. Boston won the first and fourth quarters by a combined 21 points.

He wants to see Charlotte avoid stretches where its effort and execution drop off.

"I would love to be able to bounce back with a more consistent effort for four quarters," Lee explained. "I thought that we had a couple of really good stretches. I thought those middle two quarters were pretty good. But the first and the fourth just really weren't to our standards."

"I think our guys feel it," Lee added. "I don't want us to be a team that's trying to turn it on and off. I just want us to be always on, always trying to build winning habits."

Charlotte closes the preseason Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum, with tip-off set for 8 p.m. ET. The Hornets beat Memphis 145-116 in a preseason game last year at First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C.

The regular season opens Oct. 21 at Barclays Center against the Nets. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m. ET.