The Boston Celtics were on the second night of a back-to-back on Monday night against the Charlotte Hornets.
While closing out the four-game road trip, Boston played without Al Horford and Derrick White. Even with those obstacles, the Celtics still led by as many as 18 points, including a nine-point advantage in the final two minutes.
Eventually, Boston allowed Charlotte too many extra possessions as the Hornets rallied back for a 121-118 overtime win to hand Boston just its third loss of the season. From allowing offensive rebounds to not getting back defensively in transition, the Hornets found ways to take advantage against the Celtics.
“29 points in transition, 20 second-chance points, 17 offensive rebounds,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters, per NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “That’s not a recipe for success, no matter who you’re playing. Especially these guys, they don’t stop playing. They go on runs so fast. We let them go on runs.”
Mazzulla noted that the team showed discipline on initial defensive efforts against the Hornets, though Charlotte found away to hustle for extra chances.
“Discipline can be looked at different ways,” Mazzulla explained. “I thought we were disciplined in our first-shot defense. We were undisciplined in going to get defensive rebounds and blocking out. It can look different on different nights. We just have to be able to execute those things.”
The Celtics won three of four games on the road trip before losing the finale, tallying a defeat for just the third time in 11 games this season. Mazzulla recognized that valuable takeaways are ready to be found in losing experiences.
“Regardless, we have to take something from each game,” Mazzulla said. “It’s our first overtime game. It’s our first time we’ve blown a lead. We have to go back and understand why we did. That comes from taking plays off and not finishing possessions. Credit to Charlotte for continuing to play hard the whole time.”
The Celtics look to respond with a major matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks at TD Garden on Wednesday.
