Three studs, three duds after Celtics beat Chippy Hornets

After their first loss of the season, the Boston Celtics got back on track and defeated the Charlotte Hornets 124-109 on Friday night at the Spectrum Center.

Boston visited some old friends along the way and was without Al Horford (load management), which opened the door for Neemias Queta minutes after his substitution. It wasn't easy, especially in the second quarter when the Hornets found their hot hand, but the Celtics overcame a valiant performance from the Eastern Conference's second-worst team last season and rallied against Buzz City in the first of two quarters.

Here are three guys and three duds from Boston's win over Charlotte:

SUPPORT
Jayson Tatum
The top division was occupied by Tatum, who posted a double-double for the fourth time this season by scoring a game-leading 32 points and grabbing 11 rebounds to go along with three assists, three steals and a block. Tatum shot 9 of 19 from the field, including 3 of 9 from 3-point territory, with one costly mistake: Tatum committed a game-high five turnovers. But … Tatum helped offset the free throw, bolstering Boston's free throw advantage (29 points) over Charlotte (six points) by going 13-for-15 in the charity stripe.

LaMelo Ball
When things get heated, Ball is one of the league's most dangerous, clever and difficult guards to defend. Charlotte benefited from Ball finding his touch in timely bursts throughout the evening, as the 23-year-old led the Hornets with 31 points on 12 of 25 shooting from the field, four assists and a steal.

Neemias Queta
It's not easy to fill the void left by Kristaps Porzingis' absence And Horford, but Queta gave the Celtics a productive 23 minutes on the field. The 25-year-old shot a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor and scored 12 points with six rebounds and one assist off the bench.

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Idiots
Boston's defense in the second quarter
The offense wasn't a problem for the Celtics, but on the other hand, the Hornets were on the rise right behind them. Boston's defense gave up 42 points to Charlotte in the second quarter, including nine 3-pointers, as former Celtics top assistant and current Hornets head coach Charles Lee took a page out of Joe Mazzulla's playbook.

Charlotte (44.8%) outscored Boston (36%) from distance in the first half, even though the Celtics held a 71-67 halftime lead.

Payton Pritchard
Pritchard had been there in the last four games The A fiery hand that came off the bench for Boston and filled the void created by the absence of outside sharpshooter Sam Hauser for three games. But in Charlotte, Pritchard cooled off and made sure the Celtics had nothing to offer from beyond the arc. He shot 0 of 5 from three balls and scored a total of four points on 1 of 6 shooting in 28 minutes.

Grant Williams
Williams, another familiar face, played 30 minutes without a substitute and made little to no difference on the field. Williams scored six points on 2 of 6 shooting, all from three, with seven rebounds and three assists, a minus-7. It's also worth noting that Williams thought about it, but refused to invite his old Celtics teammates to his home in Charlotte on Thursday night and instead elbowed Tatum in the fourth quarter.

“We were just talking last night because I wanted to invite her over to my house, but I told them I had a date night with my girl, so let's just say that's more important than her,” Williams said, according to CLNS Media told reporters before the game. “… Maybe we'll still hang out tonight just because we have a back-to-back, so it's a unique situation.”

Williams was ejected, and it's hard to imagine Tatum — or anyone else on the Celtics — eager to attend a housewarming party in Charlotte any time soon.