The Celtics struggled on the second night of a back-to-back, and Jaylen Brown ensured Boston didn’t sneak by with another win.
Charlotte took the fight to the C’s at Spectrum Center on Monday as Boston played without Derrick White and Al Horford. Jayson Tatum delivered a 45-point performance to keep pace with LaMelo Ball and the Hornets, but a missed Sam Hauser 3-pointer forced the game into overtime.
The Hornets continued to keep pace with the Celtics, but Boston had a golden opportunity to take a lead with 30 seconds left. Tatum dished the ball to Brown on the left wing to escape a double team, and instead of passing to an open Kristaps Porzingis, the All-NBA guard chose to shoot a contested 3-pointer.
“Terrible shot from Brown,” Bally Sports play-by-play commentator Eric Collins said.
Miles Bridges hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 6.1 seconds left, and Tatum was fouled on a three and had a chance to tie the game. But the Celtics star only made two of three free-throw attempts, and even with a supposed time error, it was too late for Boston to make a comeback.
But the missed read from Brown, who signed a supermax extension this past offseason, loomed large. The Celtics still were the best team in the East after Monday and had a six-game winning streak before the loss. But the immediate frustrations with Brown’s contested 3-pointer emerged quickly after the loss.
