Grant Williams ejection helps Celtics pull away, beat Hornets

Zack Cox, Boston Herald on Nov 1, 2024

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Grant Williams smiled as he greeted his former Boston teammates before Friday night’s game between the Celtics and Hornets.

Any postgame interactions likely weren’t as friendly.

Williams, the ex-Celtics forward, was ejected late in the fourth quarter after flooring Jayson Tatum with a shoulder-to-shoulder check while the C’s star dribbled up court. His Flagrant 2 foul was part of a late-game meltdown by Charlotte, which trailed by one with eight minutes remaining but went on to lose 124-90 at the Spectrum Center.

The game featured two ejections, two flagrant fouls and three technical fouls, including one on each head coach. The teams won’t need to wait long to settle any scores, as they’ll play the second end of a back-to-back Saturday night at the same venue.

Tatum led the Celtics with 32 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. He and co-star Jaylen Brown (25 points, six rebounds, five assists) went a combined 20 for 23 at the foul line, each making more free throws than the entire Hornets roster (6 for 12).

Luke Kornet and Neemias Queta held down Boston’s frontcourt in the absence of Al Horford, who sat out the game for rest management purposes. Queta scored 12 points and grabbed four offensive rebounds, and Kornet blocked two shots and was a plus-16 in 24 minutes.

Hornets star LaMelo Ball scored 31 points on 12-of-25 shooting before fouling out late. Tre Mann added 23 points off the bench for Charlotte.

The Celtics started cold from 3-point range, with three quick misses by Tatum and Brown, and trailed early before getting a spark from their backcourt. Holiday and White combined to hit three 3s in a 90-second span to ignite a 15-1 Celtics run.

Tatum took over late in the first quarter, draining a trailer 3 off a Sam Hauser offensive rebound and then baiting Williams into a foul on a 3-pointer as time expired. The three free throws gave Tatum 16 first-quarter points — the fourth time this season he hit double figures in the opening frame — and Boston a 40-25 lead.

The first half of the second quarter belonged to Brown, who asserted himself with several strong drives to the rim. That physicality has been Brown’s greatest asset of late, helping him remain productive amid an outside shooting slump. (He’s 1 for 21 from 3 over the last three games.)

Brown scored on three straight Celtics possessions, following up a drawn foul and a driving layup with a thunderous dunk in transition off a White feed.

But the Hornets — whose first-year head coach, Charles Lee, was Joe Mazzulla’s top assistant last season — hung around while employing a very Celtics-esque approach. Down 15 midway through the second quarter, Charlotte cut Boston’s lead to four by racking up 3-pointers.

Lee’s squad took and made more 3s than the Celtics in the first half, and eight different Hornets players hit at least one in the second quarter alone. Charlotte trailed 71-67 at halftime.

That strategy wasn’t especially surprising given how the Hornets have played in the opening weeks of Lee’s coaching tenure. They entered Friday ranked fourth in the NBA in 3-point attempts per game, third in 3-point makes and sixth in 3-point shooting percentage. (The Celtics were first, first and second in those categories.)

In the third quarter, the Celtics stretched their lead back to double digits with a 10-3 run that featured seven Tatum points. Kornet helped fuel that flurry by assisting on a White 3, pulling down a rebound and denying Ball at the rim. Tatum hit his third triple of the game on the ensuing possession.

But again, Charlotte rallied.

Mann, the NBA leader in bench scoring entering Friday (one point ahead of Pritchard), scored eight points in the final five minutes of the third quarter, including one bucket that capped prolonged Hornets possession. Charlotte grabbed four consecutive offensive rebounds before Mann’s make — a sequence that surely infuriated Mazzulla.

Speaking of, the Celtics coach was hit with a technical foul four minutes into the fourth quarter for arguing an illegal screen call on Queta. It was the angriest sideline outburst of the young season for Mazzulla, who was held back by assistant Tony Dobbins as he lambasted referee James Williams.

But the tech proved to be a turning point in Boston’s favor. Ball, who was red hot to start the fourth, missed the technical free throw that would have tied the game at 100-100, and the Celtics proceeded to score 11 of the next 13 points. Lee also was T’d up during that stretch.

A brief Hornets response cut Boston’s lead to six, but the Celtics pulled away with a Holiday 3 followed by a slew of late-game free throws. Williams was ejected for his shoulder check on Tatum, Ball was assessed a Flagrant 1 for a dangerous closeout on Tatum and Miles Bridges was tossed in the final minute after punching the ball.