After slow start, Celtics overwhelm Hornets in penultimate playoff tune-up

The Celtics rode a dominant second half to their th triumph of the season Friday night blowing out the Charlotte Hornets - at TD Garden Derrick White led all Celtics starters with points on -of- shooting to go along with seven assists three rebounds and four blocks Jayson Tatum finished with points eight assists and eight rebounds Al Horford notched his sixth double-double since the start of February points rebounds and Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser combined for points off the bench teaming up to go -for- from the field and -for- from -point range Boston which is locked into the No seed in the Eastern Conference will host Charlotte again Sunday afternoon to close out the regular season Jaylen Brown missed his second straight contest with a lingering knee injury but the Celtics had the rest of their regulars available for what might have been their final tune-up before the postseason The Hornets who own the NBA s third-worst record were missing several of their top players including leading scorers LaMelo Ball Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges Ball and Miller are out for the season and Bridges sat out with a hip injury Despite that talent disparity the match was tied at - after one quarter mainly because Boston shot and from three in the opening frame White was Boston s most of impactful participant in the first tallying nine points two blocks and two steals He played the role of Tatum in that sense a fitting expansion after the two chose to swap in-game wardrobe styles with White sporting Tatum s signature arm band and one-legged tights In a departure from his usual rotation Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla kept his starters on the floor for straight minutes to open the championship with Tatum and Jrue Holiday both playing the entire quarter The Celtics fell into a seven-point hole early in the second but recovered to take a - lead into halftime Horford went wire-to-wire in the quarter hitting three -pointers and grabbing a steal to add to his first-quarter block Payton Pritchard added eight points and two threes in the second and Kristaps Porzingis after missing nine of his first field-goal attempts canned a triple off a feed from Tatum to put Boston ahead late in the half That proved to be Porzingis final field goal of the night The big man did not emerge from the locker room after halftime with Luke Kornet replacing him in the starting lineup The Celtics did not announce any injury for Porzingis suggesting he was removed for rest purposes He s good Mazzulla revealed Perfectly fine The Celtics completely asserted themselves after the break scoring on six of their first seven second-half possessions to open up a double-digit lead Four different Boston players scored during that flurry including two threes by Tatum who picked up his th technical foul of the season late in the first half for arguing with leaders Hauser attempted three -pointers in the quarter and made all of them continuing his strong second half of the season White Tatum and Pritchard all of whom broke Isaiah Thomas previous franchise record for made threes this season became the first trio As a unit the Celtics went -for- from deep in the third quarter during which they outscored the Hornets by points and led - entering the fourth The third was another heavy-usage quarter for Boston s starters with Tatum White and Holiday all playing all minutes Mazzulla shut down his top dogs after that opening the fourth with a lineup of Pritchard Hauser Baylor Scheierman Torrey Craig and Neemias Queta That group stretched the Celtics lead to - before Jordan Walsh JD Davison and Drew Peterson checked in for mop-up duty Davison the -foot- guard who earned MVP honors in the G League this season drew a late cheer from the departing crowd when he elevated for an emphatic dunk The second half scoreline Celtics Hornets As the match concluded the Celtics gained certain clarity about their first-round playoff matchup The Atlanta Hawks defeated the Philadelphia ers to clinch the No seed in the Eastern Conference setting up a meeting with the seventh-seeded Orlando Magic in the NBA Play-In Tournament The winner of that encounter which is set for Tuesday in Orlando will advance to face Boston with the loser playing the winner of the -vs - battle for the right to take on the No seed Cleveland Cavaliers The Hawks were the only road gang to take multiple games at TD Garden this season winning - on Nov and - in overtime on Jan The Celtics blew them out in Atlanta - on Nov The Magic also went - against Boston this season though one of those victories came against the Celtics backups on Wednesday