In the NBA, it’s never easy to go back-to-back games, but the Boston Celtics didn’t do much to help themselves in Charlotte. There were many chances for the Celtics to beat the young Hornets team, but they missed some important free throws and lost in OT, 121-118.

On a great night, Jayson Tatum scored 45 points, including 23 in the second quarter, by making 15 of 28 field goal attempts. However, he missed a critical free throw at the end of overtime. The rest of the Celtics’ highly-regarded starting group had a bad game. Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday missed six free throws between them and only made 10 of 25 shots from the field. Jrue Holiday missed two at the end of regulation that would have given the Celtics a four-point lead with seconds left. Jaylen Brown got into foul trouble early in the second half. Against the Heat, LaMelo Ball scored 36 points, Gordon Hayward scored 20, and kid Mark Williams had a double-double with 18 points and 16 rebounds.

The Celtics seemed a bit slow early in the game compared to the young Hornets because they were playing their second game in as many nights. Ball looked like he was ready to throw them off as he scored nine points in the first few minutes and made an amazing pass to second-year center Mark Williams. As the game went on, Boston’s shooting just didn’t seem right. They missed their first five three-point shots and shot only 57% on free throws in the first quarter, which was a sign of things to come.

Even though Tatum and Brown each scored eight points in the first quarter, it was Payton Pritchard who really got the Celtics’ offense going. He put aside his early-season slump for a moment and made four three-pointers in the first quarter, giving him 12 points and leading the game. The Celtics were ahead of the Hornets 31–25 at the start of the second quarter.

Tatum made his second three of the game to give the Celtics a big lead after they had missed five in a row. Tatum made his presence known against the Charlotte defense, ending Pritchard’s short run as the game’s top scorer. Tatum scored 31 points in the first half, including 23 in the second quarter. This helped the Celtics’ lead grow, going from just 10 points to as many as 18. After the Celtics took the lead with 11 points, 65–54 at halftime, the Hornets went on a short run of their own, with an alley-oop from Ball to rookie Brandon Miller causing a Joe Mazzulla timeout.

As the second half started, the Celtics were made very aware of how few players they had on the team. The second part of the back-to-back was missed by both Derrick White and Al Horford. White missed it because of personal matters, and Horford missed it because he was supposed to rest. The Celtics’ defense was easily broken down by Ball and Williams’s two-man game. They led an 11-3 run in the first few minutes of the quarter that quickly tied the game at one possession apiece.

Also, Brown got his fifth foul in the middle of the third quarter, which made things even worse. He had to sit down. Unfortunately for the Celtics, they lost the foul game badly because they missed six free throws in the first three quarters, letting the other team score. They were ahead by six points going into the last frame, 87-81. It was clear that this game would not be any easier than the last two. The Payton Pritchard Show started up again in the fourth quarter when he scored a bunch of points early on to go over 20 for the season. Also, Svi Mykhailiuk made a good shift that helped the Celtics close the gap left by Brown’s foul by making a difference with his movement hitting. They used Lawler’s Law when they scored 100 points with just under six minutes left in the game. Brown also came back into the game at that time. With just over five minutes left in the game, they were ahead of the Hornets by nine points.

As the clock ran out, the Hornets got within two points of the Celtics, making it another close game just before the end. Ball and Williams kept making things difficult. With one minute left to play, Ball made a deep three-pointer that scored 30 points and cut the lead to four. Tatum missed a layup the next time the ball came in, but Williams made one after Ball set him up, cutting the lead to two.

Holiday got a hit on Ball while driving to the basket with 10 seconds left, giving himself a chance to pretty much seal the deal. To his shock, he missed both of the next free throws, and the Hornets tied the game on their next drive. Ball made a tough layup for the Hornets to score quickly. This gave the Celtics the ball with seven seconds left in the game and a chance to win. Hauser missed his three-point shot, and the game went into OT.

Early in OT, Brown drove the ball and gave Ball his fifth foul. However, he also got the free throw bug and missed both of the free throws that followed. On the other end, Ball made a layup that put the Hornets ahead by one, but Tatum missed another terrible dunk the next time the ball came his way. The Celtics missed a lot of free throws and kicked out layups tonight, which cost them a lot of points.

Boston had a chance to tie the game when Ball missed a corner three-pointer, and Williams seemed to score an own goal off of a rebound attempt that was given to Porzingis. However, Gordon Hayward scored a midrange jumper to put Charlotte back ahead by one. There were just under 30 seconds left in the game when Tatum made an open three-pointer. Hayward then scored two points on a cut to the basket, tying the game with 28 seconds left.

Brown missed a three-point shot, but Bridges made one on his own next time. Again, the game came down to free throws, and again, the Celtics missed. Tatum got a three-point shooting foul and had a chance to tie the game, but he only made two of the three free throws, so the Celtics missed.

Next, the Celtics visit Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, and the Milwaukee Bucks this Wednesday at 7:30 PM EST on ESPN. This will be another big test for their newly reorganized team.