Celtics start strong, hold off Hornets, 116-104

Brad Stevens has preached patience all season. So when the cat calls came for him to shake up his starting lineup, he didn’t budge.

And his starters rewarded Stevens’ faith in them with an impressive performance in defeating Charlotte 116-104.

It also continues a Celtics trend of playing well in the second night of back-to-back games as Boston won for the ninth time in their last 10 games in such a scenario.

"There's an emphasis that we're going to rally together and we're going to play a different guy or two to give us a little bit of a jolt," Stevens said. "But we're not going to use any excuses and to their credit, they haven't. A lot of them (wins) have been on the road. We were really locked in tonight."

With the win, Boston (33-41) is back in the eighth and final playoff spot while dropping Brooklyn (32-40) to ninth.

For the Hornets (31-42), losers in seven of their last nine games, they continue to hold down the 11th spot in the East.

Boston spent most of the game with a commanding lead, only for the Hornets to make it a game in the fourth. 

After trailing by as many as 22 points, Charlotte cut the Celtics lead down to just 10 points on two different occasions.

But the Celtics responded with points of their own each time, showing the kind of late-game poise this team hopes will catapult them into the postseason.

Charlotte came within six points, but Boston’s made all the necessary plays in the game’s final minutes to secure a much-needed victory.

The Celtics began to take control of the game in the second quarter. 

In the second, Boston went on a 22-8 run to take their first double-digit lead of the night 48-37, with 5:10 to play in the half.

The Celtics would increase their lead to 13 points before going into the half with a 56-44 lead.

 

WHAT WORKED

Boston’s backcourt 

Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart were difference-makers all game at both ends of the floor. In addition to making the Hornets guard work a lot harder than most anticipated, Boston’s duo combined for 44 points with Bradley tallying 30 and Smart chipping in 14.

 

WHAT DIDN’T WORK

Fourth quarter focus

Boston had a commanding lead through three quarters, but didn’t put the Hornets away as well as they should have considering how well they had played through the first three quarters.

 

KEY PLAY/STRETCH

Brandon Bass hit a pair of free throws with less than a minute to play that gave Boston a 110-102 lead.

 

WHAT’S NEXT

Boston returns home for another tough game with the Indiana Pacers invading the TD Garden on Wednesday.