Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges guards against Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum during the first half of an NBA game in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday.
AP photo
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Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum moves around Charlotte Hornets center Mason Plumlee (24) during the first half of an NBA game in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday.
AP photo
Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum brings the ball upcourt while chased by Charlotte Hornets guard Ish Smith during the first half of an NBA game in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday.
AP photo
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jayson Tatum scored a season-high 41 points, Jaylen Brown added 30, including an emphatic dunk in overtime, and the Boston Celtics beat Charlotte 140-129 on Monday night, handing the Hornets their first loss of the season.
Dennis Schroder had nine of his 23 points in overtime, and Robert Williams added 12 points and 16 rebounds in a game that featured 28 lead changes.
“It just showed that we have some fight in us, some toughness,” Tatum said of the Celtics, who battled back from 12 points down in the fourth quarter. “Whatever was going our way, wasn’t going our way, we had to figure it out.”
Miles Bridges had 25 points and 10 rebounds and LaMelo Ball added 25 points on seven 3-pointers for the Hornets before fouling out in overtime. Kelly Oubre added 19 points for Charlotte (3-1), which was denied its first 4-0 start in franchise history.
Both teams had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation but had difficulty inbounding the ball resulting in neither team getting a shot off in the game’s final 15 seconds.
Charlotte fell behind by four in overtime before Ball canned a long 3 to give the Hornets with 3:25 left and then knocked down two free throws to push the lead to 3.
But it was all Celtics from there.
Schroder and Brown made back-to-back 3s and Brown added a powerful one-handed dunk over the athletic Bridges after receiving a pass on a fast break from Tatum.
Brown said he had to make up for a missed breakaway dunk in overtime against the New York Knicks last week that proved to be a turning point in the loss. He said he’d taken some teasing from teammates and wasn’t about to let it happen again.
“Miles is obviously one of the better athletes in the league so I knew if I tried to lay it up he was going to send it back to Boston,” Brown said. “So I went up with bad intentions.”
Tatum called it a “big time” dunk, and it appeared to suck the life out of the Hornets even though it was still a 5-point game with 1:21 left.
Schroder went 4 of 4 from the foul line down the stretch to help seal the win.
Both teams were playing on the second night of a back-to-back, and Hornets coach James Borrego felt his team was “gassed out” down the stretch.
“They are tough, physical and they do this to most teams in the half court,” Borrego said of the Celtics. “They are long, they are physical, they switch out. We will find ways to get better as we go. We are trying to do the right thing and this is another process in learning and will help us down the road.”
The Celtics erased a 12-point fourth quarter lead as Brown started to heat up.
Boston would battle back to cut the lead to one with 2:03 remaining as Tatum drove the lane and Mason Plumlee was called for goaltending. Boston purposely fouled Plumlee at the other end of the floor on the next possession the Hornets new center missed both free throws badly. Boston took the lead on a dunk by Williams with 1:47 left.
But Ball would answer with a 26-footer at the other end to give the Hornets back the lead. Tatum tied with two free throws with 1:11 left, setting up a frantic, although scoreless final minute of regulation.
“We don’t love these overtime games, but it builds toughness mentally as well as getting in shape and playing through these,” said Celtics coach Ime Udoka. “But we just kept chipping away. We jumped it up a little bit and did a few different things trapping wise and sped them up and the guys had to obviously make shots on the other end.”
Bulls 111, Raptors 108
TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan scored 26 points against his former team, Zach LaVine had 22 points and the Chicago Bulls opened their season with four straight wins for the first time since 1996-97, holding off the Toronto Raptors.
Nikola Vucevic scored 17 points and Lonzo Ball had 15 as the Bulls won their fourth straight meeting with Toronto. Ball shot 5 for 9 from 3-point range.
OG Anunoby scored 22 points and Gary Trent Jr. had 18 as the struggling Raptors lost for the third time in four games.
Toronto’s Fred VanVleet scored 15 points and set a career high with 17 assists. Precious Achiuwa had 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Raptors, and rookie Scottie Barnes scored 13 points.
Bucks 119, Pacers 109
INDIANAPOLIS — Giannis Antetokounmpo finshed with 30 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, and Khris Middleton added 27 points as defending NBA champion Milwaukee beat Indiana.
Coach Mike Budenholzer held out two injured starters — center Brook Lopez and guard Jrue Holiday — as well as key backup Bobby Portis. Milwaukee still had enough scoring punch to pull away from the Pacers, who have lost three of their first four games under new coach Rick Carlisle.
The Pacers were led by Malcolm Borgdon with 25 points and seven assists. Domantas Sabonis had 21 points, 13 rebounds and five assists
It was Middleton’s four-point play to close the first-quarter scoring that changed the game. It broke a 30-30 tie, and Milwaukee never trailed again.
Heat 107, Magic 90
MIAMI — Jimmy Butler scored 36 points on 15-for-21 shooting, Bam Adebayo added 16 points and 13 rebounds and Miami pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Orlando.
Markieff Morris had 16 points off the Miami bench, and Tyler Herro finished with 13 points, five rebounds and nine assists for the Heat.
Miami was 19 for 19 from the foul line, tying the second-most makes without a miss in team history. The Heat were 30 for 30 against Boston on March 24, 1993.
Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs led Orlando with 15 points, while Cole Anthony and R.J. Hampton each added 12 for the Magic. Mo Bamba and Robin Lopez had 11 apiece for Orlando.
Butler also had five steals, and did the bulk of his scoring work at the rim for Miami.
Hawks 122, Pistons 104
ATLANTA — Trae Young had 32 points and nine assists and John Collins scored 22 in Atlanta’s win over Detroit.
The Hawks have won 24 of their last 30 home games, including playoff games, dating to Feb. 21.
The Pistons’ Kelly Olynyk had 17 of his 21 points in the first half and Saddiq Bey scored 21 for Detroit, which dropped to 0-3.
Olynyk and Josh Johnson were new additions to the Pistons’ starting lineup — Olynyk replacing the injured Jerami Grant and Johnson taking the spot of Frank Jackson.
Nets 104, Wizards 90
NEW YORK — Kevin Durant scored 25 points and Brooklyn bounced back from a poor finish a day earlier with a blistering start that gave them a victory over Washington.
Patty Mills made five 3-pointers and added 21 points off the bench, while James Harden finished with 14 points, nine assists and six rebounds.
The Nets were dominated in the second half of a 111-95 loss to Charlotte on Sunday in their home opener, which featured protests by fans over the vaccine mandate that has kept Kyrie Irving from playing for Brooklyn. They overcame poor 3-point shooting nights from Harden (1 for 8) and Joe Harris (3 for 11) by holding Washington below 35% shooting.
Washington’s Bradley Beal scored 19 points but shot 8 for 22 after missing a game with a bruised right hip. The Wizards won their first two games but were already down by 18 in this one by the time the Nets honored Spencer Dinwiddie with a video tribute after the first quarter of his return to Barclays Center.
Pelicans 107, Timberwolves 98
MINNEAPOLIS — Brandon Ingram scored 27 points, Jonas Valanciunas had 22 points and 23 rebounds, and New Orleans snapped its season-opening, three-game losing streak.
Devonte’ Graham added 21 points for New Orleans, which was again without injured star Zion Williamson. Nickeil Alexander-Walker had 17 points for the Pelicans, who had a 21-point lead trimmed to four points late in the third quarter.
Minnesota had its two-game win streak halted as its offense failed to find a rhythm until Anthony Edwards got the offense and the crowd going by scoring 21 of his 28 points in the third.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 32 points and 14 rebounds, and Patrick Beverly added 13 points off the bench.
A game after tying a franchise record with 30 turnovers, New Orleans was in sync early, using the extra pass to get its offense going. The Pelicans had eight assists as a team on their first nine baskets.
Cavaliers 99, Nuggets 87
DENVER — Kevin Love scored 22 points, Jarrett Allen recorded his second straight double-double and Cleveland held off Denver.
Allen finished with 21 points and 16 rebounds to help the Cavaliers start a five-game trip on the right note. This was on the heels of a 11-point, 14-rebound performance in a win over Atlanta over the weekend.
The Cavaliers overcame a big night from NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, who scored 24 points and grabbed 19 rebounds. They held Denver to 9-of-38 shooting from 3-point land, and forced more than 20 turnovers.
Up by 11 in the third quarter, Cleveland saw Denver rally to tie the game at 70. But Love hit a reverse layup to ignite a 19-3 run that helped put the game away.