Celtics finish January with an easy win over Hornets

The Celtics improve to 32-19 as Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Terry Rozier lead the way in a 126-94 victory at the TD Garden on Wednesday night.

BOSTON – They have been stuck in the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference standings for weeks, unable to make any progress.

The Celtics have been looking up at the Toronto Raptors and the Milwaukee Bucks, who have taken turns on top, plus the Indiana Pacers and the Philadelphia 76ers, who have been situated in the third and fourth positions.

Now, with the calendar about to turn to February, the Celtics are on the verge of making a move out of fifth place.

After finishing a 4-1 homestand with a 126-94 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night, the Celtics (32-19) and just one-half game behind the fourth-place Pacers (32-18) and only a game behind the third-place 76ers (33-18).

The Pacers figure to keep dropping after losing their top player, Victor Oladipo, to a season-ending injury while the 76ers are playing the Golden State Warriors tonight in Oakland.

The Celtics took advantage of a favorable January schedule, going 10-1 at the TD Garden in the month with the lone loss to the Warriors to climb 13 games above .500 for the first time this season.

They have won seven of the last eight games overall, including the past two without Kyrie Irving (strained left hip), who could return Friday night to face the New York Knicks.

“When you looked at the schedule in the summer, what stood out was October, November and December were going to be really, really tough from a travel perspective,’’ said coach Brad Stevens, whose team played 17 of the first 29 games on the road.

“The opportunity to play a little bit more at home, be home and sleep in your own bed, it’s good, and now we need to use whatever we’ve gained from it to go into February and play as well as we can over the next 14 days prior to the All-Star break and hopefully finish the season strong.’’

The Celtics again made up for the absence of Irving by placing six players in double figures, led by Jaylen Brown with 24 points on 10-for-18 shooting with 10 rebounds.

Jayson Tatum scored 13 of his 20 points in the first quarter, Terry Rozier added 17 points and 10 assists starting in place of Irving while Marcus Morris (15 points, seven rebounds), Al Horford 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists) and Gordon Hayward (12 points, five rebounds) also contributed.

The Celtics went on a 23-3 run over the last 5:55 of the third quarter and into the first minute of the fourth quarter to pull away from the Hornets and improve to 21-6 at home.

“It was up there,’’ said Stevens when asked if that was among the best stretches the Celtics have played all season. “It went from a four-point game and then all of a sudden it kind of snowballs. It feels good to be on a run like that.’’

Said Rozier: “The third quarter was huge. Obviously we’ve been struggling all year in the third quarter.’’

That wasn’t the case against the Hornets as Rozier led the way with 10 points and set the tone on offense.

Rozier has provided a boost to the Celtics in recent weeks, both off the bench and when he was called on to start for Irving.

“You know exactly what you’re getting,’’ said Stevens. “I thought he had played well off the bench in a few games prior to that. I think his spark over the last three or four weeks has been really, really impactful.’’

Brown has also been rolling in recent weeks and has scored at least 20 points 10 times in the last 27 games after not reaching that level in the opening 19 games.

“I’m just trying to be aggressive, just trying to come out and play the right way,’’ said Brown.

There are seven games left before the NBA All-Star break in mid-February with four of them at home.

The Celtics have a chance to keep building momentum before the stretch run arrives.

“We’ve been playing well lately,’’ said Tatum. “We came a long way. We’ve still got a long way to go. It’s a good feeling right now.’’