BOSTON
Preseason wins do not count, but habits do, and Boston's habit on Wednesday night was taking the ball away. The Celtics beat the Charlotte Hornets 114-93 at TD Garden to improve to 3-0 in the preseason, in a game decided less by shooting than by possession: Boston turned the ball over 11 times, Charlotte gave it away 30 times, and a contest that stayed within reach for stretches broke open for good when the Celtics won the fourth quarter 29-16.
Jayson Tatum led the performance in the way Boston needs him to lead it in October - not with a scoring explosion, but with a complete line. He finished with a game-high 19 points in 29 minutes, plus a game-high eight rebounds and six assists, playing three quarters before the night became about the bench. Around him, the Celtics got exactly the spread of contributions their rotation questions require.
The Ball-Handling Gap Was the Game
Thirty turnovers is a number that ends preseason experiments. Charlotte repeatedly gave Boston extra possessions, and the Celtics converted the chaos into points while protecting their own ball at the other end. That 11-to-30 gap explains how a game can feel competitive in stretches and still end at 21 points: the Hornets were not only defending Boston's set offense, they were defending transition chances they had created themselves.
Derrick White embodied the pressure. He scored 17 points in under 20 minutes and collected a game-high four steals, harassing Charlotte's guards before leaving a scare behind him: White got banged up in a collision while contesting a drive by Dennis Schroder. Reports from the Garden described him as a little shaken up rather than seriously hurt, but any knock to White - the connective piece of Boston's backcourt - will bear watching over the next two days, and the Celtics have every reason to be cautious with a starter this close to opening night.
Boston's Frontcourt Had a Night
If the backcourt set the tone, the bigs finished the argument. Mitchell Robinson, in his first preseason with Boston, was perfect from the field: 12 points on 5-for-5 shooting, seven rebounds and a game-high three blocks in about 17 minutes. Rim protection has been the open question in Boston's rotation, and Robinson's night was the clearest answer yet - efficient finishing, second chances and a deterrent at the basket.
Behind him, the bench bigs stacked productive minutes rather than merely absorbing them. Neemias Queta scored 16 points, and Luka Garza added 14, turning Boston's frontcourt depth from a talking point into a box-score fact. Payton Pritchard, meanwhile, ran the second unit like a starter, handing out 11 assists with no turnovers - the kind of ball security that defined the whole evening. When a team's backup point guard and backup centers all win their minutes in the same game, preseason or not, the coaching staff's rotation meeting gets easier.
Charlotte's Side of It
The Hornets were not without bright spots. Brandon Miller led Charlotte with 16 points and five rebounds in 27 minutes, and the Hornets played most of their best players real minutes rather than treating the trip as a rest night. That context cuts both ways: Charlotte's starters were on the floor for much of the mess, which makes the turnover count harder to dismiss, but it also means the Hornets got an honest, uncomfortable film session a week before the games count - precisely what the preseason is for.
For Charlotte, the fix is obvious and difficult at once. Thirty turnovers against a set Boston defense is a guard-play and decision-making problem, and it has to shrink fast, because regular-season opponents will punish it exactly the way the Celtics did.
What It Means Before Friday's Finale
Boston closes the preseason on Friday night in Philadelphia, where a win would complete a 4-0 run. The more useful takeaway is not the record but the shape: Tatum efficient and unselfish, White disruptive, Robinson protecting the rim, and a bench that scored, rebounded and - above all - did not give the ball back. The Celtics also won both of their preseason home games, sending the Garden crowd home with the version of this team it hopes to see when the regular season opens next week in Detroit.
The one cloud is White's knock. Boston's preseason has otherwise been close to ideal, and the staff will weigh Friday's finale accordingly: one more tune-up is worth having, but not at the cost of a starter's health six days before the opener. Expect the minutes decisions in Philadelphia to tell you exactly how the Celtics feel about where this group stands - because on Wednesday's evidence, they have very little left to prove before the real games start.
More from Wednesday's preseason board: Duren leads Detroit past Minnesota and the Suns fall in San Antonio.
