Celtics Wrap: Jayson Tatum Drops 39 In Boston’s 119-93 Win Vs. Hornets

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Dec 22, 2019

The Boston Celtics picked up their third straight win and 20th of the season Sunday night. But they couldn’t have done it without Jayson Tatum.

Tatum dropped a career-high 39 points — 22 of them coming in the fourth — in Boston’s 119-93 win over the Charlotte Hornets at TD Garden. Kemba Walker (23), Jaylen Brown (16) and Grant Williams (12) also reached double-digits.

Boston only trailed after the first quarter when Charlotte seemingly could not miss a shot from downtown. But some strong second-quarter defense on Devonte’ Graham and Tatum’s strong fourth quarter helped the C’s to victory.

With the win, the Celtics moved to 20-7, while the Hornets fell to 13-20.

Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE:
PG: Kemba Walker
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Semi Ojeleye
PF: Jayson Tatum
C: Daniel Theis

ALL DEVONTE’ GRAHAM
It was the Devonte’ Graham show in the first quarter.

The guard went 3-for-3 from downtown to notch nine of Charlotte’s first 14 points in the opening four minutes, forcing a frustrated Brad Stevens to call a timeout.

The Celtics battled back before Charlotte built an eight-point lead with 5:03 left. But Boston jumped into the lead on a nice block from Tatum followed by a Green one-handed dunk.

The Hornets weren’t behind for long and took a 37-30 lead into the second.

Graham led the way with 17 points, while Brown paced the C’s with eight.

C’S PROVIDE STRONG DEFENSE
Boston kept its opponent off the scoresheet for two minutes and was able to come within two points. But Charlotte, as it had in the first, battled back to pull away before the C’s closed the gap with some help from Romeo Langford, including his first 3-pointer in the NBA.

Graham wasn’t as lucky this quarter as the C’s figured out how to guard and keep him from putting the ball in the hoop.

Boston was battling from behind for much of the second and took a one-point lead with 21.6 seconds left in the half. Green made both his free throws to extend the lead to 59-56 heading into halftime thanks to a 10-2 run in the final two minutes.

The defense held Graham to just two points in the second quarter, while Charlotte was limited to just 35.3 percent shooting. Graham still paced all shooters with 19 points, while Walker had 15 for Boston.

FINDING A GROOVE
The Celtics appeared to find their groove, building their lead to seven in the first four minutes of the second half.

Charlotte began to chip away at its deficit, cutting it to four after going on a quick 6-0 run. But Langford continued his strong game with another bucket from beyond the arc to extend Boston’s lead back to seven.

The Hornets found themselves playing from behind for entire quarter, and would have to try to mount a comeback in the final quarter as the C’s led 84-77. Walker led all shooters with 23 points, while Graham had a one-point frame to up his total to 20.

C’S GET THIRD STRAIGHT WIN
The Celtics opened this one up, pulling ahead 100-86 five minutes into the fourth with a lot of help from Tatum, who seemed incapable of missing the basket.

Tacko Fall checked into the game with 2:36 to go much to the delight of the TD Garden crowd with the game well out of reach for Charlotte. He upped Boston’s lead to 117-93 with back-to-back buckets, including a two-handed dunk.

The score would hold as Boston became winners of three straight.

PLAY OF THE GAME
How cute was this?

UP NEXT
The Celtics get set for a Christmas Day game against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday. Tip-off from Scotiabank Arena is set for 12 p.m. ET.

Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
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