Boston’s starters delivered yet another strong performance and unlike their first preseason game, they got some help … a lot of help actually.
And the end result was a well-balanced, decisive 107-92 win over Charlotte for the team’s first preseason victory this season.
The only real downer for the Celtics was the sprained left wrist injury suffered by Isaiah Thomas, an injury that doesn’t appear to be serious.
He still managed to score 15 points in 20 minutes, in addition to dishing out five assists.
Thomas’ strong game was symbolic of what we have seen from Boston’s starters in each of their preseason games thus far.
And on Thursday, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens utilized his starters for longer stretches in the first quarter as they pulled ahead by as many as eight points.
Charlotte chipped away at Boston’s lead and eventually went ahead and stayed there for most of the second quarter.
Boston Celtics
Back came the starting unit at the beginning of the third quarter, doing what they did to start the game.
And in a matter of minutes, the Celtics had wiped out a double-digit deficit from the second quarter and built a double-digit lead of their own in the third.
Stevens went to his bench and unlike the team’s 92-89 preseason loss to Philadelphia on Tuesday, the second unit delivered a first rate performance as Boston continued to pull away for a comfortable victory.
Jaylen Brown continues to show the versatility to his game.
While his tomahawk jam from the Sixers game on Tuesday is still in heavy rotation among big plays in the preseason, he showed that he can also knock down 3s and make his presence felt on the glass as he finished with 12 points and five rebounds.
And second-year guard Terry Rozier, the Celtics’ best player this summer, had 14 points off the bench on 6-for-9 shooting. Boston's bench tallied 51 points for the game.
For the Hornets, they were led by former UConn star Jeremy Lamb who led all scorers with 16 points.