The Boston Celtics will host the Charlotte Hornets for their 3rd and final conference of the routine season. With so much yet to shake out in terms of seeding, tonight's matchup may not be the final time they matchup this year.

Let's jump straight into this one.

- Location: TD Garden; Boston, Massachusetts
- Date: Tuesday, April 7th, 2026
- Tipoff: 8:10 PM EST

- Brandon Miller (CHA): 30.3 MPG|20.2 PPG|5.0 RPG|3.4 APG
- Jaylen Brown (BOS): 34.4 MPG|28.7 PPG|7.0 RPG|5.2 APG

Buzz City or Buzz Saw?

The Hornets have been unbelievable this year. As it sits right now, the Hornets are being in 8th place, simply a half video game back of the Toronto Raptors in sixth and 2 games back of the Atlanta Hawks in 5th.

The Hornets are guaranteed an area in this year's play-in tournament, however might also quickly sneak out of it and into the sixth seed. The issue is the Hornets have the toughest staying schedule in the NBA, finishing their year with video games versus the Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks following tonight's match.

The Hornets have actually gone 35-14 this year with their entire beginning 5 healthy. The lineup of Brandon Miller, LaMelo Ball, Kon Knueppel, Moussa Diabaté and Miles Bridges has actually been the best in the NBA with a net score of +16.1 and offending score of 130.0.

Defensively, the Hornets have actually been just as good. The group ranks 7th in challenger reliable field goal portion, sixth in points allowed and first in rebounds permitted.

Jay Two Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have actually played 12 video games together this year, they have actually gone 10-2 and have no strategies on slowing down. Both of the Jays have been installing outrageous stat lines and tonight against Charlotte I'm expecting that very same energy.

With both Jaylen and Jayson on the floor this year, the Celtics defensive rating drops to 107.0. Albeit a small sample size, however the Celtics defense has been stellar considering that Tatum's return and he's the most significant reason that.

The Celtics' are allowing simply 107.0 points per video game in their last 15 games, bulk of which were played with Tatum in the lineup. The group's just dipping into a higher level as the regular season comes to a close and a win tonight would win them the Atlantic Division and lock them into the No. 2 seed in the East.

Jaylen Brown o37.5 PRA (-107)|Lucky Rebel

This line feels outrageous and that's why it's probably a trap. I might care less, Jaylen Brown has actually been too excellent this year for me to pass this up. Brown's averaging 28.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.2 helps per video game; all profession highs. He's seen the highest use of his career this year however he's likewise been exceptionally efficient with that usage.

Brown's shooting 47.6% from the field and 80% from the totally free throw line for the first time in his profession. He leads the NBA in made basket this year and he's taken big strides as a playmaker.

He's cleared this line in 15 of his last 20 games, including 8 of the 12 video games he's played alongside Tatum.

Brown averages 18.9 shot efforts per game with Tatum back, he leads the team in usage and has gotten to the line for 8.8 totally free throw attempts per game. The Hornets have been excellent defensively but this line just feels like an over-correction.

Grant Williams 2+ 3s (+155)|Lucky Rebel

Boston offers up a lots of broad open threes and Grant Williams has actually been excellent just recently. This will be the very first time he's playing his previous group since 2024 and he's cleared this line in 4 of his last 5.

Varun Sharma 24 hours ago