The Charlotte Hornets took the court for the first time in nearly six months as they opened their 2017-18 campaign with a 94-82 preseason loss to the hometown Celtics on Monday night in Boston. Despite an impressive, game-high 17-point performance from Jeremy Lamb, the Hornets couldn’t overcome some sloppy second-half play at TD Garden.
Things were fairly even between the two sides until late in the third quarter when the Celtics began a 20-6 run to open up a game-high 15-point advantage with 7:48 remaining in the game. Charlotte managed to cut the deficit down to as little as seven points, but failed to ever get back out in front.