The Celtics claimed a 118-104 victory over the Hornets on Monday, pulling away in the second half for a comfortable win to end their season-long six-game road trip.
Here are the takeaways.
1. The Celtics are, of course, much better than the Hornets (especially the Hornets sans LaMelo Ball) and Monday’s game was never really in jeopardy. Despite a solid 23-point revenge (sort of) game from Grant Williams, the Celtics took a double-digit lead in a third quarter dominated by Kristaps Porzingis and held that lead through a fourth dominated by Sam Hauser.
The Celtics’ magic number to clinch the NBA’s best record is now two with seven games remaining.