- 1 Charlotte Hornets vs Boston Celtics: 98.3 points a game against a team scoring 120.8
- 2 Charlotte Hornets: 47.1 rebounds a game, and an offense waiting on White and Knueppel
- 3 Boston Celtics: Tatum at 27.6 and 7.8 assists, and five straight wins since opening night
- 4 Free NBA Prediction: Charlotte Hornets vs Boston Celtics
- 5 About our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
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Charlotte Hornets vs Boston Celtics: 98.3 points a game against a team scoring 120.8 
Charlotte averaged 98.3 points through its first seven games, on 40.8% shooting and 29.6% from three. Boston came into this week scoring 120.8. That 22.5-point gap between the two offenses is where we start with Friday’s NBA Cup game at Spectrum Center, tip-off 7:00pm ET on Friday 6 November.
The Hornets went 3-4 in that stretch and closed it with three straight losses: 97-89 in Detroit, 95-79 in Washington and 109-104 at home to Philadelphia. In Washington they made 12 of 56 threes, and they’ve struggled to reach 100 points since the 128-81 loss to Atlanta on 23 October.
The Celtics are heading the other way. They lost 121-113 in Detroit on opening night and have won five straight since, the latest in Orlando on Sunday, which moved them to 5-1 and first in the Atlantic Division.
Both teams have work to do before Friday. Boston plays in Houston on Monday night and hosts Milwaukee on Wednesday. Charlotte hosts Detroit on Monday and goes to Brooklyn on Wednesday, so each team arrives with one day off.
The schedule therefore doesn’t separate them, and we’d weigh two other things more heavily: whether Coby White and Kon Knueppel can lift a stalled offense, and whether Charlotte’s rebounding edge travels against a team this comfortable moving the ball. Boston’s streak of games with at least 25 assists stood at six after Orlando.
This is the first of two meetings in less than a month. The teams play again on 2 December in Boston.
Charlotte Hornets: 47.1 rebounds a game, and an offense waiting on White and Knueppel 
Brandon Miller has carried the scoring almost alone. He’s averaging 24.4 points and 6.1 rebounds on 23.1 shot attempts a game, and he put up 34 against Miami and 39 against Washington in the space of three days in October. Nobody else on the roster averages more than 15.9.
That’s a direct result of the summer. LaMelo Ball went to Minnesota and Miles Bridges to Phoenix, and the players who came back are useful without being creators. Dennis Schroder runs the offense at 11.7 points and 5.6 assists, Grayson Allen adds 15.4, and Naz Reid gives Charles Lee 15.9 points and 8.6 rebounds.
Reid hasn’t had a smooth start. Lee made a point of sitting him in the 97-89 loss in Detroit, a game Charlotte led by seven at halftime before the Pistons won the third quarter.
The strength is on the glass. Charlotte pulls down 47.1 rebounds to its opponents’ 40.7, and Moussa Diabate leads the team with 9.6 a game. The defense has held up too, with a 109.6 rating over seven games that ranked 11th in the league before Monday.
Help is close. White was cleared for his season debut against Detroit after a left calf strain and was expected to play under a minutes limit. Knueppel, who averaged 18.5 points and shot 42.5% from three as a rookie, has been practicing with the Greensboro Swarm while he works back from a left hamstring strain. His return date hasn’t been set, and Grant Williams remains out with a hamstring injury.
A team making 29.6% of its threes needs exactly those two players. Charlotte is 2-2 at home, and both of those losses came in games where it couldn’t score with its opponent.
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Boston Celtics: Tatum at 27.6 and 7.8 assists, and five straight wins since opening night 
Jayson Tatum leads Boston in points, rebounds and assists at 27.6, 6.4 and 7.8. He scored 32 in Orlando on Sunday, and he’s been the answer whenever the Celtics have needed one, including the 17-footer at the overtime buzzer that beat Brooklyn 125-124 on 27 October.
Paul George has given Joe Mazzulla a second lead option. He scored 17 in Orlando, and his three with 1:32 left pushed the lead back to 11 after the Magic had erased a 15-point deficit. Payton Pritchard scored 30 off the bench against Chicago on 30 October, the kind of night Charlotte can’t currently match from its second unit.
Boston’s numbers separate it from most of the East. It has shot 47% from the field, it averages 27.8 assists and 9.2 steals, and it has allowed 109.2 points a game.
The soft spot is the frontcourt, and it’s the one area where Charlotte can make this uncomfortable. Mitchell Robinson rested on Sunday and was listed as a game-time decision for Houston, and Boston averages 43.6 rebounds against Charlotte’s 47.1. Neemias Queta did answer in Orlando with two blocks in the final two minutes.
The defense isn’t flawless either. One efficiency ranking had Boston 22nd on that end after six games, a small sample but a real warning, and Orlando came back from 15 down on Sunday. Boston also shot just 44% in that game and needed Queta’s blocks to close it out.
Devin Carter has been out with mononucleosis since before the season and wasn’t expected back until around 8 November. Everyone else who matters should be available, subject to how Boston manages Robinson through this week.
Probable lineup Charlotte Hornets: Not announced at time of publication
Probable lineup Boston Celtics: Not announced at time of publication
Free NBA Prediction: Charlotte Hornets vs Boston Celtics
Our prediction: Boston Celtics to win by 6 points or more (handicap -5.5)
Boston averages 22.5 more points a game than Charlotte and has won five straight, while the Hornets lost their last three in the sample we’ve used and have made fewer than 30% of their threes. We back the team with Tatum, George and a bench that can score 30 on any given night.
Charlotte’s route is the glass, plus whatever White and possibly Knueppel add. A healthy Knueppel would shift this game, and we’d look at the injury report again on Friday. Even so, we don’t see a seven-game shooting profile of 40.8% turning around in one week against a team producing 27.8 assists.
Lines hadn’t been posted at the time of writing. A straight Boston moneyline is likely to be too short, so we prefer the handicap and would only take it at 1.45 or longer.
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