Temper rises as Celtics pull away late from Hornets

CHARLOTTE — The Celtics will make the 45-second bus ride back to their uptown hotel late that night bruised, frustrated and irritated after an emotional and combative 48 minutes against the Hornets at the Spectrum Center.

The Celtics cruised to a 124-109 win, and the Hornets’ performance literally pushed Boston to the brink before a pair of flagrant fouls, including one on Grant Williams, drew angry words from both teams.

Charlotte head coach Charles Lee’s first game against his former team was marred by a frantic fourth quarter when Williams, a former Celtic, was ejected for a rough body check on shortstop Jayson Tatum with 2 minutes, 2 seconds left.

Assistant coach Tony Dobbins kept Jaylen Brown from confronting Williams. Six seconds later, Tatum was fouled again by LaMelo Ball as he attempted a three-pointer.

Tatum finished with 32 points and Brown added 25, but the Hornets tried to bite the Celtics with their physicality. They actually outscored the Celtics from the 3-point line and were only outscored 100-99 before Boston’s 11-2 win and then things went south.

Earlier in the quarter, Celtics coach Joe Mazulla nearly gave up the ball with 7 minutes, 54 seconds left in the fourth quarter when Nehemias Queta was called for an illegal screen and referee James Williams called it out of play. Mazulla shouted at officials for several moments before being stopped by Deputy Sam Cassell. Williams called a technician on Mazzulla from about 40 feet away.

It was Mazzulla’s first technical of the season. Minutes later, Lee received a technical no-call on Tre Mann as the atmosphere became tense and both teams were unhappy with the officiating.

All this simmering emotion makes for an interesting Saturday night rematch.

After the offense scored relatively easily in the first half, the defense took over in the third half. Both teams combined for six baskets in the first five minutes of the period before Derrick White and Tatum combined for an 8-0 run to put Boston up 85-74.

But no lead was safe on Friday, and the Hornets quickly rallied behind Mann’s shooting to cut the Celtics’ lead to one.

In one rather difficult sequence for the Celtics, the Hornets recovered their misses four times before the 6-foot-1 Mann took the ball over Luke Kornet and scored. There were times when the upstart Hornets simply played tougher than the Celtics, who seemed frustrated by the lack of offense and lack of real shooting.

As was the case in Charlotte, the Celtics showed their dominance for stretches and then gave way, allowing the Hornets to stay on the field. That was the case in the first half, when the Celtics led by 15 points three times only to see the Hornets fight back and capitalize on some subpar Celtics defense.

The Celtics used 14 points from Tatum to take a 40-25 lead after the first period, but the Hornets responded with a 7-0 run to start the second period behind a rushing ball. He scored 10 straight points in one stretch as Charlotte created open threes and attacked the rim at will.

Led by Ball (31 points) and Mann (23 points on 10-of-18 shooting off the bench), the Hornets made 16 of 25 shots in the second period and 9 of 16 3-pointers. The Celtics had no problem scoring themselves, but weren’t nearly as effective. Tatum and Brown combined for 34 points in the first half on 11-of-22 shooting.

Jrue Holiday and White each added 10 as the Celtics scored 71 points. But the defensive struggles that had plagued them at the start of the season continued. They were in the middle of an old-fashioned shootout with the Hornets, who never trailed despite multiple double-digit deficits.

Ball led Charlotte with 19 points in the first half on 7-of-14 shooting and 3-of-8 from the 3-point line. The Hornets, who average 17.2 threes per game, made 13 in the first half and played with unusual enthusiasm to start the season.

Rookie Tidjane Salaun hit a three to cut the Celtics’ lead to 69-67 and then pumped his fist repeatedly. Seth Curry did a dance after one of his triples, and Mann blew kisses after one of his long shots.

Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe.