Boston hosts Charlotte Wednesday with three days of rest against a team playing the second game of a road trip on one fewer. Both rosters arrive thinned — Boston missing three regulars, Charlotte missing six — before the preseason gives way to a real opener in Detroit.
Charlotte is not the pushover a preseason game suggests.
The Hornets finished 44-38 last season, outscoring opponents by 118.4 to 113.5 points per hundred possessions, a net rating of plus-4.9 that belies Wednesday's preseason label. Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller combined for better than 38 points a game last season, and Naz Reid gave Charlotte scoring depth off the bench most teams lack. Boston will see less of that group than the record suggests — Grayson Allen, Coby White, Knueppel, Grant Williams, Christian Anderson and Kylan Boswell are all day-to-day.
Boston gets the rest edge, Charlotte does not.
The Celtics arrive with three days off and no back-to-back on the schedule, after two games in the previous week. Charlotte has had two days to recover and is one day into a road trip with only one game in the previous seven — the shorter runway of the two sides, even before injuries are counted.
Boston's own injury list hands back three names Wednesday.
Luka Garza, Devin Carter and Harper are each listed day-to-day, and all three carry an estimated return date of October 14 — the date of this game. Garza's issue is a nose injury that followed his 22-point, 10-rebound outing against Cleveland; Carter's is listed as illness; Harper's shoulder has been relisted twice since October 8.
The stakes change in eight days, not tonight.
After Charlotte, Boston plays at Philadelphia on NBA TV Friday, then closes the preseason slate before a regular-season opener at Detroit on October 20, broadcast on NBC and Peacock. The Knicks follow at home on October 23 on Prime Video. Wednesday is a measuring stick, not a verdict.
Is Wednesday's game against Charlotte a real result?
No. It is a preseason game and carries no bearing on the 0-0 regular-season record.
When does the Celtics' regular season actually start?
October 20, on the road against Detroit, broadcast on NBC and Peacock.
More from The Parquet Report
all Celtics news →
Morning · Tue, Oct 13Two Games Before Detroit, One Payroll Line Still Holds
From the archives · Mon, Oct 12Boston Has Opened Octobers Like This Before
Week ahead · Tue, Oct 6Three Games, No Back-to-Backs, Nothing on the Injury List
Week ahead · Sat, Oct 3Four Preseason Games, Two of Them Against Philadelphia