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No doubt about it, today is a great day in sports. The headline: A Super Bowl LVII rematch between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles featuring plenty of Kelces and Swifts both on and off the field…
…not who you had in mind?
In addition to the highly-anticipated MNF matchup, college basketball Feast Week has also arrived! With so many top-tier games on the slate this week, it’s the perfect way to ease into your Thanksgiving holiday.
Often forgotten during a week like this, the NBA regular season is also in full swing. Basketball junkies like me just can’t stay away, even on a night filled with premiere NFL football and college basketball matchups. Inevitably, one of my screens will be tuned into Bally Sports (gross) for a less-than-desirable matchup between the Boston Celtics and the Charlotte Hornets. It’s time to put the undefeated prop article record to the test once again.
The Celtics storm into the Queen City Monday night riding a 6-game winning streak and possessing the best record in the association. Meanwhile, the Hornets currently reside at 13th in the Eastern Conference standings – familiar territory for this franchise.
Through their first 12 games, the Hornets have allowed 122.6 PPG to their opponents – good for 4th-worst in the league. They just gave up 122 to the Knicks, and have shown little resistance stopping the 3-point shot. Charlotte ranks 28th out of 30 teams in opponent three-point percentage, which means the Celtics will have plenty of open looks from behind the arc tonight.
Boston will be without Derrick White (personal) and Al Horford (rest) for tonight’s matchup. With two of the top six rotation players out of the lineup, the other members of the Celtics starting five should see an uptick in volume. One of the guys I expect to take plenty of shots is starting center Kristaps Porzingis.
Since his arrival in Boston, Porzingis has added an entirely new dimension to the Celtics’ offense. Averaging close to 20 PPG and shooting over 36% from deep, Porzingis is a matchup nightmare, especially for the Hornets. Exemplified by his average of 4.6 threes attempted per game, Kristaps is not afraid to shoot the rock.
It’s already been established that Charlotte struggles to guard the three-point line, but they also don’t have a lot of success guarding Porzingis. In his last game against the Hornets, Porzingis dropped a staggering 36 points and shot 8 for 14 from downtown. It must be noted that this was during his tenure in Washington, but with Boston missing two key guys, I doubt the former lottery pick attempts less than 15 shots tonight.
A shoot-first big man in an offense with plenty of playmakers coupled with a terrible Hornets defense…I couldn’t script it better myself. I’m riding with Kristaps Porzingis Over 1.5 3PM for my fourth official KarterKast article pick.
