The Boston Celtics didn’t make it easy on themselves, yet still managed to escape the Charlotte Hornets in victorious fashion on Saturday night.
After the Celtics were dealt with a starting lineup blow with Derrick White’s neck sprain, Boston quickly found itself faced with an early 16-point deficit. Combine that with the loss of a sidelined Jaylen Brown, and the Celtics — four minutes into the contest — encountered plenty of adversity. And like they’ve done on several occasions, the Celtics found a way to overcome.
Joe Mazzulla credited the Celtics for their ability to maintain their composure despite the situation. He did, however, note that had this game taken place a month ago, he believes it would’ve resulted in a loss.
“I think we lose that game a month ago,” Mazzulla said, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “Allowing a team as potent as they can be, as talented as they are, to get off to a good start. And so I thought our guys did a great job of maintaining their poise, sticking with it.”
Mazzulla added: “I thought our guys’ mindset throughout the game was really good.”
With White ruled out not even halfway into the first quarter, the Celtics seized the opportunity to showcase their depth. And that’s exactly what they did. Malcolm Brogdon rose to the occasion and scored a season-best 30 points on an efficient 64.7% (11-of-17) shooting from the field with zero turnovers.
As a team, the Celtics displayed strong ball movement and totaled 36 assists — nearly 10 more than their season average (26.8) — to Charlotte’s 21. Marcus Smart led that charge with 12 assists.
Boston also limited its turnover total to seven and capitalized on 11 Hornets turnovers, which resulted in 15 Celtics points.
“I just felt we did a great job of staying the course,” Mazzulla said. “We differentiated what we were living with and what we needed to take away. And it was clear in the first eight minutes of the game what we needed to take away. So we did a good job and credit to the guys.”
