BOSTON (AP) – With Kyrie Irving again stuck to the sideline, Terry Rozier and his Celtics teammates enjoyed another run as the featured act.
The talented young cast stole the show again.
Rozier had 17 points and 10 assists, Jaylen Brown added 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Jayson Tatum scored 20 points to help Boston roll over the Charlotte Hornets 126-94 on Wednesday night despite Irving’s absence.
“When we play with him (Irving), it’s more like a show. Sit back and watch him go crazy,” Rozier said after starting in place of Irving, who missed his second straight game with a left hip strain.
“Without him, obviously we don’t know who the scoring’s (going to) really come from. Somebody got to step up.”
Rozier’s 10 assists tied a career high he set a year ago Thursday against the Knicks. Marcus Morris scored 15 points, Al Horford had 14 and Gordon Hayward 12 for the Celtics, who won for the seventh time in eight games.
Boston won 10 of its 11 home games in January to keep within striking distance of Eastern Conference leaders Milwaukee and Toronto.
“Now we need to use whatever we gained from (this stretch) to go into February and play as well as we can over the next fourteen days prior to the All-Star break and hopefully finish the season strong,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said.
Kemba Walker had 21 points to lead Charlotte, well short of the 43 he scored in a 117-112 home win over Boston on Nov. 19.
Malik Monk scored 16 points, Nicolas Batum added 13 and Marvin Williams 10 in Charlotte’s third loss in five games.
“They just gave more energy than us. I guess they wanted it more,” Walker said. “We came out kind of sluggish in the third quarter, and they just jumped on us.”
