Boston Celtics
Tatum had his best game of the season on Sunday against the Hornets.
Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum reacts after scoring a three-point basket against the Charlotte Hornets during the first half of the game in Charlotte, North Carolina, Sunday, March 29, 2026. AP Photo/Neil Redmond
Jayson Tatum and the Celtics’ shortstop took on the hot Hornets in Charlotte on Sunday and cruised to a comfortable 114-99 win.
Here are the takeaways.
Jayson Tatum looked like a star again
There are still levels that Tatum can reach, and that should be very encouraging for the Celtics on a night like Sunday.
Tatum put together his best game of the season on Sunday — a masterful all-around performance in returning to last year’s role as the No. 1 option with no questions asked. He broke 30s for the first time since returning from injury with 32 points, shooting 12-for-23 and 5-for-10 from deep. There were shades of his biggest games in his shooting performance — nights when he reached 50 points as he caught fire and made eight 3-pointers — and after struggling to find range, the return of his jumper (and subsequent swagger when he makes a big one) is a nice sign for Celtics fans.
But, at his best, Tatum is more than just a scorer. With Jaylen Brown and Derrick White both out, Tatum was the team’s best option as a distributor as well. He delivered with confidence – eight assists and zero turnovers. He toyed with the Hornets’ defense, created turnovers for the Celtics (particularly against LaMelo Ball, which we’ll get to in a minute), and, in desperation late in the game, the Hornets even threw him a double-team. Predictably, it didn’t work: Tatum quietly let the duo get there, then drove to Baylor Sherman, who buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
There were still moments when Tatum looked a little embarrassed. He broke up a mid-range jumper poorly in the first half as his foot got tangled, and he hit nothing but the backboard on a drive in the second half. Despite his incredible talent, full fitness appears to be a work in progress.
However, playing like this — where Tatum weaves and weaves between defenders, then uses his strength to delay the contest and knock a layup off the glass — suggests he’s getting close.
When Payton Pritchard hits a defender on the hip, it’s over
Late in the fourth quarter as the Celtics were putting the finishing touches on their comfortable win, Pritchard made a pick-and-roll play with Neemias Koueta at the top of the key. The screen wasn’t particularly bone-crunching, but it was enough to pin Josh Green to Pritchard’s hip.
At that point, the play was basically over.
Pritchard hits a lot of tough shots, but he makes those types of plays look shockingly easy. As Green tried to recover, Pritchard held him off with relative ease, then apparently decided to let him catch up, only to hit him in the shoulder to send Green off the track. That gave Pritchard a lot of leverage on the layup.
On the next possession, the Celtics ran a very similar play (and a pick-and-roll with a double screen), at which time the Hornets turned Trey Mann over to Pritchard. Once again, Pritchard fought until Mann was on his hip. Once again, Pritchard scored a goal.
Unless you have elite length, Pritchard’s shoulder bump is almost automatic.
Pritchard had another big game, finishing with 28 points and six assists while shooting 10-for-18 in his return to the starting lineup.
The Celtics poached LaMelo Ball
The Celtics were determined to get Hornets star LaMelo Ball to play defense.
Here is an example.
There are two things to note: First, the hard screen that Tatum provided, and the way he forced Ball into a matchup he never wanted. As the play develops, and it becomes clear that the ball is about to get stuck on an island, Miles Bridges begins to float to the top of the key.
When Tatum gets the ball, Bridges and Ball actively execute a scram switch to save the ball from the game.
However, Tatum had a clean look at the rim by that point, and buried the 3-pointer right in Bridges’ face, giving him what looked like a “fuck from here with that” for good measure.
A potential showdown between the Celtics and Hornets in the first round has been much talked about as the Celtics head toward the No. 2 seed. The Hornets will likely be heading into the playoffs, and given how hot the team is, it’s not a stretch to imagine them winning their way to a matchup with the Celtics.
The Hornets are one of the best stories of the season. Ball is a star, and he is winning for the first time in his career. Con Knoebel struggled on Sunday, but he is a deadly shooter. Brandon Miller is a nice prospect. Coby White was a great pickup off the bench.
But the Hornets have a fatal flaw that a team like the Celtics will cringe at again and again: defensive scoring. In their playoff series, the Celtics are mercilessly mismatched offensively, and unless the Hornets can come up with some truly creative solutions, Tatum and Brown will be able to do a lot of damage.
Ron Harper Jr. Looked Great (And Then He Sprained His Ankle)
The Celtics’ Stay Ready group increasingly looks like a group of good NBA players.
In the first half of Sunday’s game, Ron Harper Jr. played big minutes, scoring seven points on 3-for-3 shooting, including a tough layup late in the first quarter that left Drew Carter and Brian Scalabrine ooh-ing and ah-ing.
Harper sprained his ankle in the second quarter and had to leave the game. He later returned and was quiet the rest of the way, but once again showed flashes of being a truly useful player.
Jordan Walsh started
Rather than bring Baylor Sherman back into the starting lineup in Brown’s absence, Joe Mazzola elected to start Walsh.
Walsh shot just 1-for-7, but played — as expected — with energy and enthusiasm. His transferable defense was an important plus against Charlotte’s offense He scored more Up from 129 points per 100 possessions in the last two weeks.
This move may have been less about Walsh and more about keeping the Celtics’ rotations healthy, as Sherman appears to be the player whose rotation spot is the closest to locking down heading into the postseason.
However, the starting nod was a nice vote of confidence for Walsh, who played well in returning after a number of DNP-CDs on Friday.
“50 wins in a gap year“
After the game, Jaylen Brown noted on social media that the Celtics had just achieved a “50-win gap year.”
The Celtics still have eight games remaining, and they’ve handled an incredible three-game losing streak by beating the Thunder, Hawks, and Hornets.
Meanwhile, the Knicks lost to the Thunder on Sunday, giving the Celtics a 2.5-game lead in the standings.
The Knicks still hold the tiebreaker, and with a head-to-head matchup looming, the No. 2 seed is far from decided.
However, the Celtics had the third-toughest schedule remaining last week. Now, they have a three-game winning streak…and the 17th-strongest remaining on the schedule.
What’s the next step?
The Celtics will play the second night of a back-to-back on Monday against the Hawks in Atlanta, where Brown could return.
They will conclude their road trip with games against the Heat and Bucks in Miami and Milwaukee, respectively, on Wednesday and Friday.
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