The Boston Celtics beat the Charlotte Hornets, 140-129, in overtime Monday night, moving to .500 on the year as they grabbed their second win of the season.
Jabari Parker had a strong start off the bench in the first quarter, tallying 11 points and finishing with 13 and five boards. Despite that, Boston was trailing the entirety of the first. They did work their way back from their 10-point deficit and were able to take their first lead early in the second quarter — it was then back and forth for the rest of the second quarter. The C’s went into halftime up 68-66.
The Hornets had a surge of momentum early in the fourth after it was another back and forth third quarter, jumping out to an 11-point lead with just over six minutes left. But Boston clawed back, and it remained a nine-point lead with four and a half minutes left.
With some scrappy defense, led by Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown, helped the C’s go on an energetic 11-2 run, which gave them the lead as Rob Williams threw down an alley-oop to make it 120-119, Celtics — with just under two minutes left.
LaMelo Ball’s stepback three-pointer gave the Hornets the lead right back, before Jayson Tatum tied it at 122-122 with a pair of free throws with roughly a minute left.
Several missed shots from both contestants kept it tied with 14 seconds left, and an inbound from the Hornets was plucked free by Smart, and Boston had an inbound of their own with eight seconds left after they took a timeout. But an errant pass — that almost led to a turnover — just forced Tatum to run out the clock as they were unable to get a shot off.
The Hornets had the three-point lead two minutes in, with the score at 129-126, but from there, it was all Celtics.
A 14-point unanswered run — that started with back-to-back threes from Dennis Schroder and Brown — put Boston in the win column.
Tatum was a major catalyst in the win, posting 41 points with eight assists to go along with 14-for-28 from the field, which included a 6-for-12 mark from beyond the arch. Brown also added 30 with three steals, while Schroder posted 23 and Williams notched 12 points and four blocks.
Smart, despite his three takeaways, went just 1-for-9 from three, salvaging only seven points.
The Celtics will return home, hosting the Wizards at 7:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday night.
(Photo of Jayson Tatum by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)