Final: Hornets 111, Celtics 102 - Celtics go cold again, fall again in winnable game

GAME 46
Boston Celtics (23-22, 15-8 home, 10th East) vs. Charlotte Hornets (24-20, 12-14 road, 7th East)
TD Garden
7:30 PM - ESPN, NBC Sports Boston

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

Boston: Dennis Schroder, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Grant Williams, Al Horford

Charlotte: LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier, Gordon Hayward, Miles Bridges, Mason Plumlee

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Marcus Smart has cleared Health and Safety Protocols, but is now out due to return to competition reconditioning. 

“It’s ramping up the workouts where he’s comfortable enough to play in the game,” Ime Udoka said. “Obviously, there’s a shooting aspect or getting work in without practice time to actually get some reps in and possibly some three on three. Him just coming back, he didn’t really do anything for the last week or so. … The last thing we want is to rush somebody back and then get hurt in that first game back, a hamstring or whatever the case may be. So we take our time with that. We’ve gone through enough this year and other guys step up until he’s back.”

- Aaron Nesmith (ankle) and Robert Williams (personal reasons) are out tonight. Williams is still home after the birth of his son. 

“You’re sensitive to it obviously,” Udoka said before the game. “The morning of it, he texted me the morning of our last game, so you knew it was coming and it’s an issue that you understand the time that’s spent, that needs to be spent. So when our players aren’t ready, we’re sensitive to that and every situation is different. We’ve been in constant communication and if another game is what he needs, it’s what he gets.”

- LaMelo Ball (non-COVID illness) and Kelly Oubre (Health and Safety Protocols) are both available for the Hornets. 

- Boston is favored by 3

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. Protect the ball: This can’t be one of the Celtics sloppy turnover nights because the Hornets will run them out of the building. 

“They're number one fast break team in the league,” Udoka said. “We've been prepping up for this but they take it to another level. Make or misses, playing extremely fast and throwing long outlets with Ball and some of those guys, so that will be the challenge tonight…

“They have five or six guys averaging around 15-plus a game, so they come at you in waves and we got to obviously be ready to guard, which we hang our hat on, and from there the ball movement is very evident on tape when you watch them. They enjoy playing together, have very unselfish guys, and a lot of aggressive guys, so the challenge starts with transition.”

2. Attack the basket: The Hornets lack a rim protector, so the Celtics need to move the ball and attack to get some easy buckets. Charlotte allows the most assists per game, which means it won’t take a whole lot to get them pulled out of position and to get all the way to the basket.  

3. Start strong: Charlotte being a bad defensive team means they are prone to slow starts, but them being a high-energy fast-paced offense means they’ll be very happy to get into a shootout. Boston needs to put the clamps down early and hit the Hornets with some transition of their own and build a big early lead. Once they do that, Charlotte could fall into bad habits in an attempt to close the gap.

GAME THREAD

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