Up Next - Hornets @ Celtics 6 PM 12/23/2018

The Celtics play their 3rd straight game at home tonight against the Charlotte Hornets.

In their 117-112 loss to the Hornets, Kemba Walker was a one man show dropping 43 points on the men in green. Boston could not defend the pick and roll against him. He went 7-13 from deep, 14-25 overall and 8-9 from the line.

Kyrie lead the Celtics with 27 points and Tatum scored 20. Al Horford who is expected to return tonight was a no show scoring only 8 points on 4-6 shooting. He only had 3 rebounds but he did get 3 blocks and handed out 3 assists. The Celtics shot only 9-32 from deep or 28.1%.

Keys to the game:
Contain Walker
Rebound the basketball
Make more 3 pointers
Win the fast break battle like last time (22-6)
Win PITP battle again (52-44)

Other factors, Charlotte is 4-8 on the road and are coming off of B2B wins over Detroit and Cleveland both home games. They are in 6th place right behind Boston.

Morris is questionable for tonight's game and Al is probable. The Hornets are healthy

Here is the recent Charlotte Schedule:



They are coming off a five game home stand, with one back to back included at home.  They have had a very nice schedule, with a four game home stand at the end of November.  Compare their schedule to ours and you can see that the league hates the Celtics.  We have spent the early season getting off of planes and playing the next game.

Charlotte is an odd and inconsistent team.  They have beaten us, Indiana, Milwaukee and Detroit (twice).  They have also lost to some bad teams.  They have played 19 games at home and 12 games on the road.  That will catch up with them as the season progresses.

In my opinion, Charlotte is not as good as their record (16-15) or their seeding in the East (sixth).  I wouldn't be surprised to see them outside looking in at playoff time (as usual).

Right now, they are well rested and healthy while we are discombobulated, inconsistent and have had guys in and out of the roster due to illness and injury for most of the season.

It comes down to which team shows up, not only for them, but for us as well.

gyso