Fourth quarter free throw parade helps Celtics drive past Hornets

Phew, what a fun night in the Queen City. The Charlotte Hornets and the Boston Celtics put on a show in the first of a back-to-back. The Celtics walked away victorious, 124-109, but the Hornets played with maximum effort, perseverance and toughness to give the defending world champions a fight to the finish.

Things got a little out of hand in the final minutes with some technical fouls and some questionable calls against the Hornets, leading to 22 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter by Boston.

I could very easily go with LaMelo Ball here, but we need to spread the love a little. I mean, where would the Hornets be without Tre Mann? Serious? And who would have thought I would ever say that? Mann remains an important piece off the bench for Charles Lee, tallying 23 points on 10/18 shooting from the field tonight. He can make challenging shots from the outside, but is also a pretty crafty finisher from the inside, which he showed a few times tonight.

Charlotte still has a lot to figure out defensively, but the most upsetting issue of the night was their inability to defend the paint. Boston is a team that generally likes to live and die by the three, so going into the night they ranked 28th in paint points per game, with an average of 37.6. Tonight they finished with 56. Now that we don’t have Nick Richards (shoulder) for the second Half was definitely a factor, but they let those looks in all night.

Shots from deep were flying everywhere for both teams in the first half, with Charlotte and Boston combining for 54 attempts in the first half alone. The pace was very fast in the first 24 minutes, and with all the triples launched it felt like the first to 200 would win the game. Just kidding of course, but it was an offensive explosion in that first half.

Next: Saturday vs. Celtics at 6pm EST.

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