NBA Basketball BETTING PREVIEW - Charlotte Hornets @ Boston Celtics

NBA Basketball

2026-04-07 - Charlotte Hornets at Boston Celtics

A Sports Betting Preview by FirstDown

Charlotte Hornets @ Boston Celtics
United States : NBA Basketball
Tuesday 7th April 2026 - Scheduled 8pm EST
1am (British Time)

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Preview

They are almost certainly locked into the Number 2 Seed in the Eastern Conference, but the Boston Celtics (53-25) are planning to use the last week of the regular season to just make sure everyone is on the same page. Injuries have restricted the opportunities for all of the players to share the court at the same time, but that has changed with the return of Nikola Vucevic.

He arrived in a trade from the Chicago Bulls and Vucevic has already had the Boston uniform on.

However, he has not played with a returning Jayson Tatum and the next four games is a chance for Boston to just get their rotations in order.

The Celtics have won three in a row and they may be a little wary about handing over too much data to the Charlotte Hornets (43-36) who are currently the Number 8 Seed in the Eastern Conference. The Hornets do have real ambitions of trying to get into the top six, which would mean avoiding a meeting with the Boston Celtics in the First Round of the Playoffs, but games are running out and they do need to slip past a couple of rivals.

Winning out is the challenge for Charlotte who have won four in a row.

That does give them momentum, but only one of those victories have been against a team that will definitely be playing in the First Round of the Playoffs and the remaining schedule is a test. Not only do they have to face the Boston Celtics, but the Hornets will be facing the Number 1 and Number 3 teams in the Eastern Conference and they will do well to merely hang onto a top eight finish and have two shots at getting through the Play In Tournament.

Everything that makes this Charlotte team dangerous is down to the heavy three point shooters they have throughout the roster- over the course of the season, the Hornets have made 38% of shots from the distance, while almost half of the shots taken are from three point range.

On a good day, the Hornets can beat anyone and they showed that when blowing past the Boston Celtics on the road in early March.

On a bad shooting day, things will switch though and Charlotte were beaten at home by Boston later in the same month and that can be tied down to the three point shooting.

When they beat Boston, the Hornets made 39% of the 49 three pointers taken, but those numbers slipped to 28% and 43 attempts in the blowout loss at home.

The road team have to take a huge amount of encouragement from the fact that in recent games Boston have allowed a healthy number of three pointers to land against them. With the Celtics perhaps testing one or two schemes out, they have been giving up around 41% of the three pointers attempted against them in recent outings and Charlotte are capable of exploiting that.

However, the challenge for the Hornets is trying to slow down what has been an efficient Boston Offensive unit that have seamlessly integrated Jayson Tatum back into the lineup. Some had concerns about how he would fit back in considering the performances of those that had stood up in his absence, but the Celtics have a solid connection going back a few years and that has been evident on the court.

At this stage of the regular season, you always have to consider how teams will treat the final few games ahead of the Playoffs beginning. No one is going to be risked if they are carrying anything, but Boston have looked focused and they may be more likely to think about giving nothing away in the last game against the New York Knicks, which is on deck.

It could allow the Celtics to play key contributors a little longer in this one and Boston may end up doing just enough to cover in a home win here.

Prediction

Both teams are very capable from the three point range, but the Boston fans will not have forgotten the home loss to Charlotte last month.

This should mean they are keeping the Celtics focused and the home team may cover as the favourite.

The Pick :

Boston Celtics 116-109 Charlotte Hornets

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Boston Celtics - 5 Points at -105 with Bovada