Hornets drilled by Pacers in first postseason since 2016
The Charlotte Hornets’ first postseason game since 2016 was a disaster.
The Hornets gave up 69-first-half points to the Indiana Pacers, trailed by 30 with four minutes left in the third quarter, and lost 144117 Tuesday in an NBA play-in game.
The Hornets ended their season with six consecutive losses to finish 33-40. Charlotte forward Miles Bridges finished with 23 points and eight rebounds.
The Hornets were overwhelmed by injuries the past two months, losing long stretches for LaMelo Ball, Gordon Hayward and Malik Monk.
Small forward Hayward, the Hornets’ $120 million free agent acquisition, never played again after suffering a sprained foot against the Pacers on April 2. The Hornets went 8-17 in games after Hayward was injured.
“The reality is we’ve been disrupted,” Hornets coach James Borrego said pregame of the injuries’ collective effect. “We’ve lost rhythm and continuity.”
The Hornets trailed 69-45 at halftime. Their defense was so bad — they gave up 10of-20 shooting from 3-point range — that the Pacers’ Twitter account mocked them in the first quarter.
After Doug McDermott — nicknamed “McBuckets” for his jump-shooting accuracy — made a couple of first-quarter 3s, the Pacers tweeted, “Looks like they forgot the scouting report. Doug McDermott = elite shooter.”
McDermott had 20 first-half points, making 7-of-8 attempts overall and 4 of 5 from 3point range.
The Hornets have a history this season of giving up numerous open 3-point looks. Borrego said in the preseason that he’d given up on trying to pay equal attention to the post and the 3-point arc defensively. So he was prepared to concede some open 3s to avoid constantly giving up 50-some points in the lane.
Indiana’s 69 first-half points were only four short of tying the most the Hornets allowed in a half this season. They allowed 73 on the road Jan. 2 against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Borrego changed his starting lineup for this game, moving in defender Bismack Biy
ombo at center. P.J. Washington opened at power forward and Miles Bridges at small forward. That meant Jalen McDaniels was out as a starter.
The apparent intent in starting Biyombo was looking to slow down Pacers big man Donantas Sabonis initially. While Sabonis had a bad shooting half, making just 1-of-8 attempts from the field, he had 12 rebounds and five assists in the first half. All the defensive attention Charlotte paid to Sabonis inside left Indiana’s spot-up shooters wide open.
As bad as Charlotte’s defense was in the first half, the offense was little better. Terry Rozier, one of the few Hornets with significant postseason experience, needed to excel and sure didn’t, shooting 3 of 11 from the field and 0 of 6 from 3-point range in the first first half.
Ball, front-runner for NBA Rookie of the Year, shot 1 of 4 in the first half. He had no assists and three turnovers in 14 first-half minutes.
Celtics get Nets in first round after beating Wizards in play-in game
BOSTON — The Celtics’ twisting, winding season played during a pandemic will officially take them to the playoffs.
Jayson Tatum was masterful on his way to 50 points as the C’s downed the Wizards in a 118-100 win Tuesday at TD Garden. While Boston fell well short of preseason expectations, it’ll have a chance to make some noise as the No. 7 seed in the East, taking on the No. 2-seeded Brooklyn Nets in the first round. The first game between the Nets and Celtics will be at 8 p.m. Saturday at Barclays Center.
The Celtics used a commanding run at the start of the third quarter to create some separation against the Wizards — and perhaps pick up some momentum along the way. Their stint in the play-in tourney lasted just one game as they passed their first test of the postseason.
Now it’ll be a different animal in the Nets, who many are slotting as a potential championship contender.
There will be plenty of storylines for the Celtics entering the first round of the playoffs as a No. 7 seed. They’ll get the Nets’ Big Three, which features former Celtic Kyrie Irving, James Harden and Kevin Durant. While Brooklyn has endured injury struggles all season — similar to Boston — it’s looking like the Nets will be near full strength at the beginning of the playoffs.
There’s plenty of question marks surrounding Brooklyn’s chemistry, or lack thereof, considering its best players haven’t logged many minutes this season together. But the sheer amount of talent and offensive playmaking the Nets feature will likely overcome many of those unknowns.
The Nets beat the Celtics 3-0 this season, though both teams were at varying levels of health for each game.
Brooklyn isn’t invincible, though. The only way to beat the Nets is to outscore their porous defense, though that’s a tall task considering their star trio and supporting cast. While Brooklyn’s defense is beatable, the Nets can outscore just about anybody in the league.
Many of the storylines in the series will revolve around Irving, who will play in front of his former Boston fans for the first time since he left.
It’ll be a tough series for the Celtics, though, especially without Jaylen Brown. The C’s will be heavy underdogs in the first round, hoping to make some noise. They’ll also Robert Williams III will be good to go after dealing with left foot turf toe.
The Celtics entered the play-in tournament as the No. 7 team in the East, going 36-36 on the season. While it’s been a trying season for many players amid injuries and COVID-19 issues, the Celtics are trending relatively up in the health category.