When the Celtics and Hornets face off, it will be a match-up between two of the Eastern Conference’s hottest teams. The two franchises are interconnected — both due to their personnel and emerging styles of play.
Earlier this month, one analyst drew the connection: “They’re like a younger version of the Boston Celtics,” he said of the Hornets. “Their games actually mirror each other.”
Shared Strategies on Offence
The parallels between the Celtics and Hornets are striking.
Both teams are heavily reliant on three-pointers. The Hornets have made the most threes in the NBA this season with 1193, and the Celtics have made the third-most with 1113. Both teams routinely win the margins, meaning they get up more shots than their opponents; the Celtics average the 4th-most offensive rebounds per game, the Hornets average the 7th-most.
And, both franchises have been a part of two of the most extreme midseason turnarounds the league has seen in recent years. The Hornets were 12 games below .500 on January 22nd. Since then, they’ve gone 23-7, completely turning their season around.
The Celtics underwent a similar turnaround en route to their first Finals appearance of the Jayson Tatum/Jaylen Brown era. That season, they entered the All-Star break with a 20-21 record, and ended up going 31-10 the rest of the way.
Coaching Connections Between the Teams
One Hornets guard credited Hornets head coach Charles Lee for powering the team’s success this season. Lee was Joe Mazzulla’s lead assistant during the 2024 championship, and is in his second year as Charlotte’s head coach.
“Charles has been great,” the guard said. “He really preaches daily improvement. So even when you know the losses were stacking up early in the season, it was really just about continuing to get better each day. And I think going into each day with that mindset, living in the present, is really good, especially for our young team.”
Lee headlines a long list of critical Hornets personnel who were previously part of the Celtics organisation.
Two members of the Hornets coaching staff — Blaine Mueller and Jermaine Bucknor — also hail from that Celtics championship team. Mueller, who was the head coach of the Maine Celtics in 2023-2024, is one of Lee’s.