Final: Celtics 89, Hornets 85. On a night when the Celtics trailed by 15 early and looked dead in the water, they've managed to come back and secure a very impressive road victory.
The Hornets open the game with a 56-41 run; the Celtics finish it with a 48-26 streak of their own. A nice dramatic win for the C's, who finally get that "can't win on back-to-backs" monkey off their backs.
Ray Allen and Glen Davis finish with 20 points each. Jeff Green and Delonte West also perform well off the bench in the comeback victory.
David West drops an eye-popping 32 in a losing effort for the Hornets.
The Celtics will hop on a flight to New York on Sunday. They've got a marquee matchup Monday night with Carmelo Anthony and the new-look Knicks.
Fourth quarter, 15.2 seconds, Celtics 87-83: David West fouls Big Baby, and Baby hits two clutch free throws.
Big night for Baby. The Louisiana native shines in his homecoming game.
Fourth quarter, 19.6 seconds, Celtics 85-83: David West keeps the Hornets alive, and Big Baby misses on the other end with a chance to finish things. But Ray Allen comes up with the biggest rebound of the night.
The C's call a timeout. They're in a commanding position now.
Fourth quarter, 57.4 seconds, Celtics 85-81: That's huge. The C's get a stop, and KG comes right back on the other end and drills a jump shot. It's a two-possession ballgame with under a minute to play.
Assuming the C's hold on, this is a really impressive win.
Fourth quarter, 1:55, Celtics 83-81: After a long review, the officials decide that Kevin Garnett's block of Emeka Okafor's shot is a jump ball.
The Hornets get the tip. They've got a chance to tie the game.
Fourth quarter, 2:55, Celtics 82-81: The Hornets are going to Emeka Okafor down low, hoping he can be their savior in crunch time. Nothing else is working, I guess.
Okafor gets a bucket down low; one possession later, he draws a foul and makes one of two free throws.
The Hornets are still hanging around.
Fourth quarter, 4:46, Celtics 81-77: Tempers flare between Nenad Krstic and David West. Double technicals are called.
Seems fair — Krstic reached in and slapped at the ball in West's hands well after the whistle. No need for that.
We all know Doc Rivers' rule — no fourth-quarter techs. There goes another violation.
Fourth quarter, 5:23, Celtics 81-75: Finally, Paul Pierce has a field goal. And it's a big one.
The captain improves to 1-for-7 with a second-chance bucket, a wing 3 assisted by Nenad Krstic off an offensive rebound. Nice play for the C's to pad their lead.
Perhaps even more importantly, the C's continue to work hard on defense. They're a few stops away from being able to breathe easy.
Fourth quarter, 6:12, Celtics 78-75: Doc Rivers pulls Glen Davis and Delonte West, reinserting Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo.
Ordinarily, that would be a no-brainer. But in this case, Doc just yanked his two best players on the floor.
Clearly, tonight is no ordinary night.
Fourth quarter, 7:28, 74-74: Big, big shot by Trevor Ariza. We're all tied up.
That's Paul Pierce's man. If the captain can't hit a shot tonight (and he can't — he's 0-for-6), he at least needs to close out on jump shots.
The bench guys continue to carry the C's. This game has been all about Glen Davis and Delonte West.
Fourth quarter, 8:48, Celtics 72-69: Ray Allen knocks down another tough shot. The C's shooting guard just keeps hitting big ones. He's 7-for-9, leading the Celtics with 17 points.
Now the Celtics need to buckle down and get some stops. Easier said than done.
Fourth quarter, 10:09, Celtics 70-66: The Celtics are out for blood now — literally, actually. Carl Landry has a scratch under his eye, and that'll require a timeout.
Too bad for Landry, but it's nice to see the Celtics show some physicality. They're actually playing like they care about pulling this one off.
End of third quarter, Celtics 67-64: The Celtics have gone on a 14-2 run to close the third quarter. Unbelievably, they've overtaken the Hornets and seized a lead.
Delonte West has been huge for the C's off the bench, spelling an injured Rajon Rondo. He's got six points and five assists.
Ray Allen leads the C's with 15 points; David West and Marco Belinelli have 21 each for the Hornets.
The C's are 12 minutes away from an impressive comeback win.
Third quarter, 1:08, Hornets 64-63: Delonte West is carrying the Celtics back into this game. On one end, he's smothering Chris Paul; on the other, he just drained a jumper to cut the Hornets' lead to one.
The C's are coming all the way back, and Rajon Rondo is watching from the bench. Ain't that something?
Third quarter, 4:05, Hornets 62-57: Uh-oh — look out, Hornets. Kevin Garnett hits one mid-range jumper, and Glen Davis knocks down another. The lead is slashed from nine to five.
If the C's can steal this game despite playing awful basketball for most of the way, it'll be an oddly impressive feat.
But let's not get carried away. They've still got plenty of work to do.
Third quarter, 4:58, Hornets 62-53: Paul Pierce just missed the widest, openest, easiest 3 in the history of the world. He's now 0-for-6.
You can make all the great plays you want, but it means nothing if you can't finish by knocking down shots. The C's execution this quarter has been great, but the rims are killing them.
Rajon Rondo is watching from the bench, holding an ice pack. He's clearly injured.
Third quarter, 7:11, Hornets 58-49: Allen connects on another 3. He's now 2-for-2.
He's got to keep it up. No one else is producing worth a lick.
Third quarter, 8:55, Hornets 58-44: Doc Rivers is getting fed up with Nenad Krstic. The big man has played 18 minutes and only attempted one shot. He has zero points, zero assists and one rebound.
Glen Davis is headed back in for the C's. They need a jolt of energy down low. Big Baby might hit the spot here.
Third quarter, 9:42, Hornets 56-44: The Hornets pick up the second half the same way they left off the first, with West and Belinelli scoring in bunches. But Ray Allen halts the Hornets' momentum with a 3.
The C's need Ray to get hot in this second half. Very hot. When all else breaks down, they at least have the best pure shooter in the game on their side.
Halftime, Hornets 51-40: The Celtics have been awful this season on the second night of back-to-backs. It looks like Saturday night is no exception, as the C's trail the Hornets by 11 at the break.
David West leads the Hornets with 17 points; Marco Belinelli adds 16. Chris Paul has four points, 10 assists and three rebounds.
No one has scored in double figures yet for the Celtics. Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green are closest, with eight each.
The Hornets are shooting 60.6 percent from the field. No one should ever be able to do that against the Celtics, back-to-back or not.
Second quarter, 2:55, Hornets 43-35: The Celtics quietly go on a 6-2 lead, with Rondo, Garnett and Pierce each chipping in. The C's still have a little fight in them, believe it or not.
Garnett is showing a little aggression in short bursts — a minute ago, he just exploded to the basket for a dunk with a full head of steam. But he can't sustain it, nor can anyone else in green.
Second quarter, 5:53, Hornets 37-27: Kevin Garnett picks up his second foul. He doesn't look too happy about it.
The C's lost Friday night's game around this same time — they were already down, but they lost their composure and let a bad situation get even worse. They can't let that happen again.
As long as the Celtics keep this game within 10 or so, they're still within striking distance.
Second quarter, 6:28, Hornets 37-27: Just as the Celtics were starting to chip away, Trevor Ariza stepped up and drilled a 3 to put the Hornets back to a double-digit cushion. That's a momentum-killer if ever I saw one.
Jeff Green and Glen Davis have done a nice job off the bench, but it hasn't been enough. The C's need more than a two-man game to get the job done.
Second quarter, 8:12, Hornets 32-23: The Celtics' second unit has played significantly better than the starters so far tonight. Delonte West just knocked down a smooth jumper, trimming the New Orleans lead to nine.
The starters need to take a vacation and clear their heads. Rondo, KG and Paul Pierce have all been off their game. Delonte West, Glen Davis and Jeff Green are each playing better than the guy ahead of them on the depth chart.
End of first quarter, Hornets 28-14: Another night, another blowout loss for the Celtics, evidently. They've got to get their act together.
Marco Belinelli has singlehandedly equaled the Celtics' score in the first quarter. He leads the Hornets with 14 points; David West has nine. Chris Paul is scoreless but has seven assists and three rebounds.
The Hornets are shooting 61.1 percent; the Celtics are at 33.3. This is hideous.
First quarter, 2:58, Hornets 17-10: The Celtics have only scored once in the last four minutes. Surprisingly, it was a Rajon Rondo jump shot.
The C's are 4-for-13 from the field as a team. Nenad Krstic, normally a beast in the first quarter, is still scoreless.
The Celtics are lacking any kind of fire offensively. They're not competing. Seemingly every possession ends in a bad shot or a bad pass.
When will they snap out of this?
First quarter, 4:26, Hornets 16-10: The C's defense hasn't been too strong, either. KG just left David West wide open for a jumper, and West nailed it without hesitation.
The Hornets are on a 7-2 run.
The Celtics hardly look like they're trying.
First quarter, 5:58, Hornets 9-8: Kevin Garnett with another mid-range miss. The Celtics are settling for a lot of jump shots, and they're not falling. The C's are 3-for-9 from the field.
Rajon Rondo's not getting it done right now. When Rondo doesn't show aggression, the entire team suffers.
First quarter, 9:34, Hornets 5-2: It's been somewhat of a slow start offensively for both teams. The Celtics have yet to hit a field goal, with their only two points coming on a pair of Paul Pierce free throws; the Hornets have gotten five already from Marco Belinelli.
The C's have to keep their composure. Given their recent slump, especially offensively, it'll be tempting to give in to their frustrations. That can't happen against a quality opponent.
First quarter, 11:44, Hornets 2-0: The Hornets open the ballgame on a good note, as Marco Belinelli knocks down a smooth mid-range jumper.
The C's are already back on their heels. They don't want to fall behind early like they did Friday night in Houston.
7:30 p.m.: There's the million-dollar question, people — can the Celtics finally win one on a back-to-back? Can they prove that they don't always need a good night's rest?
The C's have lost five straight games on the tail ends of back-to-backs. Now would be a nice time for them to break out of that funk.
They'll need Rajon Rondo to step up and bring his A game against Chris Paul, though. CP3 outplayed Rondo last time, on Dec. 31. Rondo will look to get even now.
3 p.m.: After giving one of their worst efforts of the season at Houston on Friday night — arguably the worst — the Celtics have no time to dwell on their miserable performance. They've got to put it behind them right away, because there's another hungry young Western Conference opponent waiting 24 hours later.
The Celtics lost an ugly on Friday, falling 93-77 to Kevin Martin and the Rockets. But Saturday may be even tougher — after a loss to a fringe playoff team, the Celtics now look ahead to a showdown with a New Orleans Hornets team with a firm grip on No. 7 or better in the Western Conference.
Time to forget about Houston, fast.
"The next game's the next game," Glen Davis said. "You've got to treat it like a cloud — just let it pass by."
The Celtics have been awful in 2011 on the second night of back-to-backs — they've lost five straight such games against Chicago, Washington, Phoenix, Charlotte and New Jersey. They're hoping to buck that trend Saturday at the New Orleans Arena.
"We should be fine," Doc Rivers. "We didn't play a lot of minutes. Just look at this as a bad practice, and hopefully we'll be ready for the next game."
Davis played 31 minutes on Friday night; everyone else was well under 30, including all five starters. That should bode well as the C's take on Chris Paul and the Hornets.
Tipoff from the Big Easy is at 8 p.m.
