Three Studs, Three Duds As Celtics Silence Hornets, Grant Williams

It’s rare for the Boston Celtics to break out the brooms in the regular season.

But that’s what they did Saturday night in Charlotte.

The Celtics, who were without Jaylen Brown, bested the Hornets for a second straight night as they earned a 113-103 win at the Spectrum Center to complete the mini two-game sweep.

The drama from Boston’s win Friday night when Grant Williams trucked Jayson Tatum didn’t carry over as there wasn’t any payback for the former Celtics forward. The Celtics stayed away from the extracurriculars to improve to 6-1 on the season.

Here are three studs and three duds from Boston getting a second win in Charlotte:

STUDS
Payton Pritchard
Pritchard’s shooting clinic made its next stop. The sharpshooting guard splashed in four of his six 3-pointers in the second quarter and he finished with 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting off the bench. Pritchard’s 3-point outburst was critical to the Celtics building a 21-point first-half lead and it was his fourth game this season with at least five 3-pointers.

Luke Kornet
The only player who had a better shooting night — albeit less difficult shots — than Pritchard was Kornet. Simply, Kornet couldn’t, and didn’t, miss. The 7-foot-2 center went a perfect 6-for-6 shooting from the field and also knocked down all seven of his free-throw attempts.

Kornet did a little bit of everything in a larger role as he got the start alongside Al Horford with Brown out. Kornet compiled 19 points, four rebounds, three assists and two blocks to show off Boston’s depth.

Jrue Holiday
Holiday stayed his steady, unassuming self in the win. He totaled just 13 points on 5-for-12 shooting to go along with six assists and five rebounds. Certainly not an eye-popping performance, but Holiday came up with a couple of big baskets in the fourth quarter with the game in the balance to help put the Hornets away.

DUDS
Celtics’ third-quarter performance
This looked like the old Celtics teams that came out flat after halftime. The Hornets did whatever they wanted to start the third quarter as they went on a 17-2 run to trim an 18-point halftime deficit down to a measly three points. The Celtics’ 3-point shot dried up in the frame as they shot 2-for-15 beyond the arc, but they never adjusted to attacking the paint. If the Celtics came out of the intermission with more urgency, the Hornets would have never made it close.

Grant Williams
Williams’ performances over the last two games ensured Celtics fans they aren’t missing much when it comes to Williams. He had as many fouls as points Saturday with five each as he shot just 2-for-6 from the field. That ineffectiveness to go along with his reckless foul on Tatum made it an all-around ugly showing against his former team.

Al Horford
The Celtics gave Horford the first game of the back-to-back off so the 38-year-old would be fresher for the second contest — a routine practice for the team over the last several seasons. The only problem was Horford was so invisible Saturday night that fans probably thought the Celtics gave the veteran center both nights off. Horford didn’t score a point as he went 0-for-4 from the field. He did notch six rebounds and five assists.