Key Moment
From tight game to blowout in the blink of an eye. That’s the story of Monday’s matchup between the Celtics and the Hornets in Charlotte.
Boston led by just seven after Aleksej Pokusevski drilled a 3-pointer for the Hornets with less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter. By the time the quarter came to an end, the Celtics had more than doubled that lead up to 16 points.
The C’s required just 89 seconds to rattle off a game-changing, 9-0 run to take total control heading into the final frame. They did so thanks to two three-point plays – one conventional, and one from long range – plus a free throw and a putback layup.
Kristaps Porzingis got it all started with an and-one layup at the 1:32 mark of the period. (Of note, that was his second such three-point play in just a minute of game action.) Oshae Brissett followed Porzingis up with a free throw before Sam Hauser put home a putback layup off a missed 3-pointer from Jayson Tatum. Hauser rounded out the run with a 3-pointer of his own just seconds before the quarter came to an end.
That run not only changed the game, but it also lit Sam Hauser’s hands on fire. His tip-in layup gave him 10 points on the night and, including his 3-pointer to close the quarter, he went on to score 13 more the rest of the way as Boston pulled away for the 118-104 win.
That Sam Hauser fella sure can get hot, can’t he?
Just two weeks after he made a career-high 10 shots from beyond the arc against Washington, Hauser drained another seven Monday night against Charlotte. He has now made at least five 3-pointers in nine games this season, including three performances of seven or more.
The hot shooting spurred Hauser to his second-highest scoring total of the season with 25 points. That number tied Jayson Tatum for the team’s top mark, and it trails only the 30 he scored during that matchup with the Wizards last month.
Hauser finished the game having shot 9-for-13 from the field and 7-for-11 from distance. He added in five rebounds during his 24-plus minutes of action.
Box Score Nuggets
- Jayson Tatum and Sam Hauser tied for the team high in scoring with 25 points apiece.
- Miles Bridges led the game with 26 points.
- Tatum led Boston with 10 rebounds, while Bridges led the game with 11.
- Boston totaled 28 assists on 43 baskets.
- Vasilije Micic logged a double-double with 13 points and a game-high 10 assists.
- Each team blocked three shots.
- Tatum was a game-best plus-14 in the plus/minus category, and he led the game with two steals.
- Charlotte committed only six turnovers, while Boston committed only nine.
- Kristaps Porzingis scored 20 points on only 10 shots.
Quote of the Night
“We gotta get a ring first.”
– Sam Hauser to NBCSB’s Drew Carter, after Carter suggested that Hauser might be able to play some golf soon in Boston with the weather warming up
