Final: Celtics 140, Hornets 129- Celtics, Jaylen Brown, dominate OT

Game 4: Celtics (1-2) vs. Hornets (3-0)
Spectrum Center
7:00 PM, NBC Sports Boston

PROJECTED STARTERS

BOSTON: Dennis Schröder, Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Robert Williams

CHARLOTTE: Gordon Hayward, Miles Bridges, Mason Plumlee, Kelly Oubre, Jr., LaMelo Ball

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Al Horford is out tonight with an adductor strain (you might know it better as a groin strain). Terry Rozier is out with a right ankle sprain. PJ Washington is out with right knee discomfort.

- Bridges was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week. He averaged 25.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game in three games. He had two 30-point games in the opening week of the season to become just the second player in franchise history with multiple 30-point outings in the Hornets first three games.

GOING A LITTLE DEEPER

Soft tissue injuries at this point of the season are a bit concerning, and guys going on and off the injury report already is a bit of a problem. 

"I wouldn’t say it’s typical - part of it was COVID obviously, our guys being out," Ime Udoka said in his pregame media availability. "When you come back from 10 days out in Jaylen’s case, that ramp-up you can’t implement that in a workout or getting shots up. So the high level of competition, especially the first game with the double overtime took a toll a bit there. For an older guy like Al we’re just being cautious, and he is feeling something with the three in four nights. Romeo’s unfortunate situation, and Dennis and some of the other guys have taken hits throughout training camp. Probably not normal. We hit a bit of adversity early with guys in and out and all the nicks, banged up guys. But what we’ve done well in the preseason and now so far is we’ve thrown in guys and they’ve done well."

The question now is how long these strains and nagging things last. Can the Celtics figure out a way to get everyone healthy for a few games in a row, or is this just going to be how it is for this season? 

For now, it might be a blessing in disguise for a few of the guys who have not gotten much opportunity. The Celtics have gone small in the absence of Horford and it burned them. Boston's small lineups have given up a lot of offensive rebounds and their offense just isn't good enough yet to make up for all the extra shots opponents have gotten.

"We’re comfortable going big or small, and it will be the opportunity now with Al out," Udoka said. "We’re looking at combinations tonight since Charlotte has a few guys out. We feel we can go several different ways. But with the guys you just mentioned it’s an opportunity and we look forward to them being ready."

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. GET. BACK. ON. DEFENSE. The Hornets are one of the fastest pace teams in the league, and LaMelo Ball just loooooves to throw the touchdown pass. The Celtics have had problems with players leaking out behind them, so this could get very ugly, very quickly, if someone isn’t focused on getting back every possession. 

2. Better communication in the half court: The Hornets are also, literally, one of the fastest teams in set offenses as well. According to NBA tracking data, their average speed on offense is 4.77 miles per hour, fourth-fastest in the NBA (Boston is the slowest, at 4.24 mph). The Celtics communication needs to be a lot better than it has been to contend with the speed at which Charlotte executes their offense. This will be a challenge. 

3. Move the ball, move yourself: We talk all the time about ball movement, but that also should involve player movement too. The Celtics simply don’t like to cut, a habit Udoka absolutely has to break. They are cutting 6.4% of the time so far this season, which is exactly in line with how often they’ve cut in the past. If Udoka wants the ball to pop, it has to do more than move around the perimeter. 

"We would like movement," Udoka said before the game. "We have put in cutting off post-ups, cutting off isolations. We feel we’re too stagnant off the weak side at times. ... We had some nice cuts (in Houston) for drop-offs, Marcus’ and-one and some of those other plays. We talk about tandems in our four-out spacing - a tandem on ball-side, a tandem on weak-side to shift the defense, and is something we’re constantly working on."

GAME THREAD

Stick around for more comments below as the game goes on. Feel free to add your two cents in the comments.