On Monday night, the Charlotte Hornets and Boston Celtics each debuted some of their newest stars in an NBA preseason game. Among those on the court were the Celtics' top rookie pick Jayson Tatum and new All-Star acquisitions Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving. Also participating in the game was new Hornets big man Dwight Howard. When all was said and done, the Celtics captured a 12-point victory. Here's the latest Hornets vs. Celtics game recap with top performers, statistics, and what's next for these two NBA teams in the preseason.

NBA game recap

In tonight's Boston Celtics win, Gordon Hayward got 17 minutes of playing time and Kyrie Irving was in for 19 minutes. Hayward would finish with just five points and five rebounds, while Irving ended up shooting 4-for-11 and getting nine points. He also had four rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Leading the way for Boston were several unlikely heroes, including Daniel Theis, who scored 12 points off the bench to go with seven rebounds, and starter Aaron Baynes had 10 points on 5-for-8 shooting. Rookie Jayson Tatum finished with nine points, five rebounds, and four assists.

For the Charlotte Hornets, Jeremy Lamb led the way off the bench with 17 points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes.

All-Star guard Kemba Walker scored 12 points, but hit just 3-of-11 field goals. Nicolas Batum had 10 points in the game. The Hornet's newest acquisition, center Dwight Howard, spent 23 minutes in the game and finished with seven points and 10 rebounds, as well as three blocks.

For the game, the Boston Celtics shot at a rate of 41.8 percent compared to 37.5 percent for the visiting Hornets.

Charlotte had a game-high 19 turnovers with the Celtics only turning the ball over just 10 times all game. As far as the rebounding battle went, the Celtics won that 52-45 with a variety of their players getting five or more boards in the win.

What's up next?

The Charlotte Hornets begin their preseason campaign at 0-1 and look like they may have some early issues to figure out.

In particular, Dwight Howard turned the ball over six times out of the Hornets' 19 total turnovers. This will likely work out as the season progresses. Next up for their preseason schedule is an away game on Wednesday against the Detroit Pistons starting at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.

The Boston Celtics start out the NBA preseason with a 1-0 record. Their star players got a bit of time on the court but probably won't be playing big minutes ahead of the regular season due to concerns over possible injuries happening. The next game for Boston comes on Friday when they visit the Philadelphia 76ers at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on NBATV.
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