They did. With Tatum getting to the free throw line and Luke Kornet, Derrick White, and Jrue Holiday scoring timely buckets, the Celtics held on for a 113-103 win at Spectrum Center.
Boston missed 18 of its 23 3-point attempts in the second half and scored just 45 points after a 68-point first. The Celtics missed countless good looks from beyond the arc, and had to shift to attacking the rim and getting to the free-throw line for success.
The Celtics attempted 28 free throws to Charlotte’s nine, 17 of those by Tatum, who returned to the court without a hitch Saturday after that flagrant foul from Williams, who considers Tatum one of his closest friends.
According to an NBA source, the two did talk following Friday’s game, with Williams apologizing for the hard foul. Tatum initially did not want to speak with reporters for a second consecutive night; he eventually agreed, but did not want to discuss Williams or the incident.
“I don’t really want to talk about it,” Tatum said. “Got ready for the game today. We came to Charlotte, did what we was supposed to do, and going to Atlanta and try to get another win before we go home.”
Tatum never mentioned Williams by name and said he’s not going to get into any personal battles with opposing players.
“I don’t ever make it about one person,” he said. “I understand who I am, who I am in this league and come out and play the right way. It’s not about a matchup or anything. Just come out and try to dominate and give my team the best chance to win, playing the right way. Whether that’s scoring, rebounding, screening for other guys. The objective is to make sure we give [ourselves] the best chance to win. It’s about no situation. No other person.”
Jaylen Brown, who sat out Saturday with a hip flexor injury, said he’s not going to accept opposing teams using overt physicality in an attempt to rattle his teammates as the Celtics vie for a second consecutive title. Tatum said he understands teams are going to use rugged tactics to slow him down.
“You understand that’s their game plan,” Tatum said. “They put [Josh] Green on me to deny. They didn’t want me to get the ball. They face-guarded me. It’s part of it. It makes you stronger. It makes you better. You figure out other ways to impact the game. Don’t limit yourself to just one way to be effective.
“I lift [weights] every game day, so that [expletive] don’t bother me.”
Tatum led the Celtics with 29 points, but missed eight of his nine 3-point attempts. White missed nine of 13. Payton Pritchard, who nailed five in the first half for 17 points, scored just 5 in the second. Despite all that, the Celtics still managed to lead for the final 45 minutes, 24 seconds.
“We’re not just gonna live or die by the three,” Pritchard said. “We’ll take the threes if it’s there, but we weren’t hitting so we ended up hitting some midrange, some finishes at the rim. There’s a lot of ways to win, so it’s not like we’re out there like we’re gonna force threes. We’re gonna try to make the right play every time.”
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said Charlotte’s third-quarter run was a byproduct of “our bad offense,” with the Hornets able to run off Boston misses and live-ball turnovers. That soon changed.
“I thought in the middle of that third quarter we regained our poise offensively,” he said. “We were just able to make the right play, slow down, get to our spacing.”
The Celtics held the Hornets, the No. 12 scoring team in the league, below 30 points in each of the four quarters Saturday.
“That’s a highly talented offensive team and to do that is not bad,” Mazzulla said. “They’re gonna go on runs. It’s a matter of just making sure we know how to sustain [our poise].”
Tatum expressed pride in winning without burying 3-pointers, a testament to the Celtics’ versatility.
“You guys watch enough basketball. We play enough basketball. Every game isn’t the same. You’re not going to shoot exactly how you want,” he said. “But our objective of the game is to find a way to win. We had a couple of 25-point quarters on the defensive end. So finding a way to win when the shots are not necessarily falling for all of us. And we gotta get stops [to win that way].”
Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe.