Kornet, Pritchard step up in Brown’s absence vs. Hornets originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Celtics won all seven games with Luke Kornet in the starting lineup last season. They extended that win streak Saturday in Charlotte.
Kornet started in place of Jaylen Brown, who was ruled out with a left hip flexor strain. Boston went with a double-big lineup of Kornet and veteran Al Horford on the second night of their back-to-back vs. the Hornets.
As he’s done time and time again for the C’s, Kornet rose to the occasion. He played a key role on both ends, racking up a season-high 19 points with four rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and a steal.
“Yeah, he’s great,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said of Kornet after the 113-103 win. “He gets a lot of stuff that goes unnoticed. One of the things that they don’t chart is block-outs so someone else gets the rebound. So he does a great job keeping his guy off the glass so someone else can get it.
I just thought his physicality vs. their switching allowed us to get some easy looks. Just a great presence around the rim.”
Also stepping up for the C’s was Payton Pritchard. He tallied 22 points on 6-of-12 shooting from 3-point range to help make up for Brown’s absence.
“Payton was great tonight,” Kornet told NBC Sports Boston’s Kayla Burton during his postgame interview. “We can always trust in him and his energy, especially in these little back-to-backs like that. When everyone just kind of has the same goal and same mission and we hold each other to that, we’re a great team.”
As great as Kornet and Pritchard were in Saturday’s win, the Celtics will hope to have Brown back in the starting lineup when they visit the Atlanta Hawks on Monday. Brown is reportedly set to undergo a second MRI on his left hip flexor, which he says has been bothering him for two-and-a-half weeks. Mazzulla told reporters before Saturday’s game that Brown is considered day-to-day with the injury.
Tip-off for Monday’s game in Atlanta is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. ET.
