**What:** Charlotte Hornets (31-31) (17-15 away) at Boston Celtics (41-20) (20-9 home)
**When:** 7:30pm Eastern
**Where:** TD Garden; Boston, MA
**How to watch:** FanDuel Sports Network, NBA League Pass
**Outfitting:** Hornets–Statement (purple), Celtics–Association (white)
**Game Lines:** Hornets +6.5, Hornets money line +210, O/U 214.5
**Injuries:**
Hornets (guessing): Tidjane Salaün-questionable (leg)
Celtics: Jayson Tatum-out (achilles)
I think it’s safe to call this a measuring stick game. Not that the Hornets need to prove themselves. They’ve had wins over some of the best teams in the Western Conference and have gone toe to toe with some of the better teams in the East. But a win on the road against a Celtics team that’s been the class of the NBA for a few years would add one of the bigger notches to the Hornets’ belt this season. If it means anything for what this game means and where the Hornets stand, the Celtics sat Jaylen Brown with an illness and rested starting center Neemias Queta against Giannis and the Bucks to make sure they were at full strength for the Hornets.
Most people expected the Celtics to have a bit of a down year. Jayson Tatum has been out all season with a torn achilles, and the organization prioritized cutting costs and balancing their books when making moves over the offseason. Instead, Jaylen Brown decided to turn into an MVP candidate, Payton Pritchard and Derrick White have been perfect sidekicks, and the role players are excelling in their roles.
Unsurprisingly, the Celtics approach the game very similarly to the Hornets. They have a wing that can control the game in Jaylen Brown, and he’s been one of the best players in the league this season. The guards get shots up and play perfect connecting basketball. They have a high energy defensive big in Neemias Queta that gobbles up rebounds and covers a lot of ground. They shoot a bunch of threes and rebound the ball well.
The Hornets have defended very well lately, and they’ll need to put their best foot forward defending the ball. The Celtics don’t generate that many assists and, like the Hornets, get a lot of their offense out of ball handlers in the pick and roll. They have the personnel to be very difficult to guard in those situations. All of their ball handlers can score at all three levels, and Queta provides a lob threat. Off the bench, Nikola Vucevic gives them a pick and pop threat that has given the Hornets problems in the past. There’s a reason teams have struggled to stop them.
Charlotte will need to get hot from three to keep pace since Boston has been so hard to stop. Both teams play slow, so we probably won’t see a ton of points, but it should be a great game with some very impressive offensive basketball.
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