BSJ Live Coverage: Celtics 59, Hornets 42, 2Q 2:52 - Tatum and Pritchard on fire

BOSTON CELTICS (49-24) at CHARLOTTE HORNETS (39-35)

Location: Spectrum Center, Charlotte, NC

Game time: 6:0 p.m.

TV: NBC Sports Boston

Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub

Celtics injury report:

• Jaylen Brown - OUT (left Achilles tendinitis)

• Nikola Vucevic - OUT (right ring finger fracture)

• Neemias Queta - AVAILABLE (right thumb sprain)

• Jayson Tatum - AVAILABLE (right Achilles repair management)

• Derrick White - OUT (right knee contusion)

Hornets injury report:

• Tosan Evbuomwan - OUT (G League, two-way)

• PJ Hall - OUT (G League, two-way)

• Antonio Reeves - OUT (G League, two-way)

• Tidjane Saluan - OUT (left calf strain)

• Grant Williams - OUT (right knee injury management)

What to watch for: For two games straight, the Boston Celtics have matched up against two of the hottest teams in the NBA. And in two straight games, they walked out with a victory.

On Sunday night, they will look to make it three in a row when they take on the Charlotte Hornets, who have surged up the Eastern Conference standings in the second half of the season.

Tale of the tape: But Boston will be doing more than trying to win three games in a row against red-hot squads—they will also be striving for revenge.

The last time the Celtics and Hornets squared off, Charlotte absolutely decimated Boston at TD Garden.

Led by 20 points from Kon Knueppel and 19 from Brandon Miller, Charlotte beat Boston 118-89. The Celtics shot just 10-of-36 (27.8%) from three-point land.

Last game: The game after Boston got beaten by Charlotte, Jayson Tatum returned. And since then, the Celtics have been playing very well.

In their last game, they picked up an impressive win over an Atlanta Hawks team that had won 14 of its last 15 heading into the night.

With Jaylen Brown sidelined, Payton Pritchard led the charge. He put up 36 points, seven rebounds, and four assists off the bench. Tatum finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists.

Standings check-in: Though the Celtics have been playing well, the Detroit Pistons still hold a 4.5-game lead over them in first place. However, Boston is now 1.5 games up on the third-place New York Knicks.

Hornets check-in: Charlotte hasn’t just gotten hot in the second half of this NBA season. It has become one of the hottest teams in NBA history. They have accrued the highest point differential in wins of all-time, edging out the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks and 2024-25 Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Hornets have won 13 of their last 17 games and are 23-7 since January 22. That’s the second-best mark in the NBA since that date, behind only the San Antonio Spurs.

As of late, LaMelo Ball has been leading the charge. In his last 10 games, he has averaged 22.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.1 assists while shooting 43.9% from the field and 38.8% from deep range on 11.6 three-point attempts per game.

Miller, Coby White, and Knueppel have been right behind him, putting up 18.6, 17.4, and 17.3 points, respectively, in their last 10 games (last nine for White). All three of those guys have also been on fire from beyond the arc.

Miller (last 10 games) has shot 43.8% on 8.0 attempts, White (last nine games) has shot 40.7% on 6.0 attempts, and Knueppel (last 10 games) has shot 41.5% on 8.2 attempts.

One fun play: This is a perfect way to get Tatum involved without having him create his own offense.

Teams will almost always switch in the pick-and-roll if they don’t want to give Tatum space to work, which is exactly what the Hawks did here. But Tatum managed to get a step on CJ McCollum.

As soon as that happened, Onyeka Okongwu helped over from the corner, Jordan Walsh cut to the rim, and Tatum found him for an open dunk.