The Charlotte Hornets (25-23) are in “Bean Town” Sunday for a 6 p.m. ET game against the Boston Celtics (24-25) at TD Garden. Below, we analyze the Hornets-Celtics odds and lines, with NBA picks and predictions.
Charlotte has alternated between wins and losses over the past four games with the latest being a 114-97 drubbing of the Indiana Pacers as 5-point road underdogs.
However, the major story from Charlotte’s previous game was the injury of second-leading scorer SF Gordon Hayward, who will miss at least the next four weeks with a foot sprain.
Over the past two weeks, the Hornets are 5-2 straight-up (SU) and 6-1 against the spread (ATS).
Boston snapped a two-game losing streak by beating a hapless Houston Rockets 118-102 at home Friday.
The Celtics have been inconsistent in recent weeks (much like their entire season), splitting their eight contests 4-4 SU and ATS.
Despite their up-and-down performance this year, the Celtics are eighth in the Eastern Conference but are only 1.5 games back of the Hornets, who are the 4-seed at the moment.
This is the first Celtics-Hornets game of the season so we won’t be treated to the “Gordon Hayward revenge game”.
Hornets at Celtics: Odds, spread and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 11:40 a.m. ET.
- Money line: Hornets +310 (bet $100 to win $310) | Celtics -400 (bet $400 to win $100)
- Against the spread/ATS: Hornets +9 (-110) | Celtics -9 (-110)
- Over/Under: 216.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)
Hornets at Celtics: Key injuries
Hornets
- SF Gordon Hayward (foot) out
- SG Malik Monk (foot) out
- PG LaMelo Ball (wrist) out
Pacers
- SG Jaylen Brown (knee) questionable
- PF Tristan Thompson (health and safety protocols) out
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Hornets at Celtics: Odds, lines, predictions and picks
Prediction
Celtics 108, Hornets 103
Money line (ML)
PASS because Boston “should” win but is only 17-14 SU as a favorite, and no way should we be laying -400 with the Celtics at any point in the regular season.
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Against the spread (ATS)
Slight “LEAN” HORNETS +9 (-110) for a quarter-unit, if at all, because of Charlotte’s obvious injury issues and Boston playing down to its competition.
According to CleaningTheGlass.com, which eliminates garbage time from its stats, Boston is ranked ninth in points per 100 possessions differential, and Charlotte is 20th.
However, the Celtics are 7-8 SU with the 21st-ranked ATS margin vs. teams in the middle-10 of net efficiency. I.e. Boston plays down to its competition and is 1-4 ATS this season when favored between 7.5-9.5 points.
Over/Under (O/U)
The UNDER 216.5 (-110) is the best play in Hornets-Celtics.
Boston is a finesse team that doesn’t go to the basket a lot, attempts the 11th-highest volume of mid-range field goals, according to CleaningTheGlass.com, and has the 21st-ranked offensive FTA/FG rate.
Whereas Charlotte is fifth in defensive mid-range field goal percentage and third in defensive FTA/FG rate.
Furthermore, the Hornets have played to the Under in four straight and eight of their last nine games while the Celtics have also gone Under in four consecutive outings.
BET UNDER 216.5 (-110) for 1 unit.
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