Tatum scores 34 as Celtics rout Hornets 119-80

Jayson Tatum scored 34 points in 29 minutes, and the Boston Celtics made 24 3-pointers in a 119-80 rout of the Charlotte Hornets on Friday, November 6.

Tatum made 9 of 16 shots, five of eight from 3-point range, and all 11 of his free throws. He added eight rebounds and nine assists before sitting out the late minutes of a game Boston controlled from the opening quarter.

Boston (7-2) scored 40 points in the first quarter and held Charlotte to 20. The Celtics, favored before tip-off by the markets and by our projection, never trailed, and the game was never tied.

Charlotte played without Kon Knueppel, who was out with a left hamstring strain. Dennis Schroder (left soreness) and Moussa Diabate (right quadriceps tendinopathy) also did not play.

Boston kept pulling away after the break. Derrick White scored 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting, four of his makes from beyond the arc, and Payton Pritchard hit four 3-pointers off the bench for 12 points. Sam Hauser made three more and finished with nine.

The Celtics got 49 bench points, and their lead reached 46 at 115-69 with 3:26 left. Charlotte outscored Boston 13-7 over the final five minutes, with the outcome long settled.

The Hornets (3-7) shot poorly all night. Naz Reid led them with 14 points but made six of 17 attempts, and Brandon Miller scored eight on 3-of-10 shooting in 14 minutes. Hannes Steinbach grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked three shots.

Charlotte shot 27 of 92 from the field and 11 of 50 from 3-point range. Boston finished with an effective field goal percentage of 60.2 to Charlotte's 35.3, a gap that 19 offensive rebounds by the Hornets could not close.

Steinbach's dunk off a pass from Liam McNeeley with 33.4 seconds left made the final 119-80.

Up next

Celtics: at the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, November 8.

Hornets: home against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday, November 9.