Kon Kneuppel, Hornets beat Celtics for 6th straight win

Kon Kneuppel scored 20 points as the visiting Charlotte Hornets beat the Boston Celtics 118-89 on Wednesday for their sixth straight win.

LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller each added 18 points for Charlotte, which got 17 points and six assists from Coby White. Moussa Diabate finished the game with nine points, nine rebounds and six assists.

The Hornets’ back-to-back wins came by at least 16 points as Charlotte (32-31) moved above .500 for the first time since October when it went 2-1. The Hornets lost 14 of their first 18 games.

Charlotte, which is 16-3 in its last 19 games, scored the first eight points and never trailed.

Boston’s Derrick White led all scorers with 29 points. Jaylen Brown added 20 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, but shot 7 of 19 from the field. No other Boston player scored more than nine points.

The Celtics’ Payton Pritchard missed all six of his field goal attempts and failed to score. Pritchard entered the contest averaging 17.1 points per game.

Boston, which had won 12 of its previous 14 games, finished 30 of 79 (38%) from the field.

Grant Williams (knee) and Tejane Salon (knee) did not play for Charlotte. Salon suffered the injury during the Hornets’ win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday. The Hornets elected not to play Williams on the second night of a back-to-back.

Charlotte led 35-23 after one quarter and 64-43 at halftime. The Hornets made 12 of their 25 3-point attempts in the first half.

Boston cut the deficit to 14 points with 7:44 left in the third on two free throws by White, but when Knuppel sank a layup, the Hornets went on a 12-2 run to take an 82-58 lead. Charlotte led 91-68 after three quarters.

Wednesday’s contest opened the team’s three-game season series. Boston plays Charlotte on March 29, and the Pacers visit the Celtics on April 7.

–Field level media