LOS ANGELES: Jayson Tatum’s 41 points and Boston’s 25 three-pointers propelled the league-leading Celtics to a 40th win of the NBA season on Friday, 127-116 over the Charlotte Hornets.
Tatum posted his eighth 40-point game of the season. But with Jaylen Brown sidelined by a facial fracture and Al Horford out with a sore knee he didn’t have to carry the offensive load alone.
Derrick White scored a career-high 33 points and handed out 10 assists. His output included eight of the Celtics’ 25 three-pointers, which came on 55 attempts. “Shot was feeling good,” White said. “I was getting some good looks and just letting it fly.” Less than a minute into the contest Sam Hauser and White drilled back-to-back three-pointers and the Celtics cruised from there.
They had a franchise-record 16 three-pointers in the first half, and even when the Hornets put together a 15-0 scoring run in the third quarter the Celtics’ lead remained in double digits.