CHARLOTTE – There really isn’t any way to overstate the importance of tonight’s game for the Boston Celtics.
A win over the Charlotte Hornets and they’re back on solid footing for a playoff berth. A loss would be devastating to their postseason chances now that the season is down to just a handful of games remaining.
But there are other milestones to monitor leading into this all-important Eastern Conference matchup.
Here’s a list of a few compiled by the good folks at the Elias Sports Bureau:
- The Celtics are 9-8 thus far in the month of March. A win tonight would give them a winning record in a calendar month of 18 or more games for the first time since Larry Bird and Kevin McHale were walking through that door in December of 1984 (13-5). Boston has had three other months of 18 or more games since then; March 1999 (4-14), April 1999 (9-9) and November 2013 (7-11).
- A win tonight would also give Boston consecutive months with a winning record for the first time since January (8-7) and February (8-4) of 2013. Boston had a 7-4 record in the month of February which was also the first month with a winning record for head coach Brad Stevens.
- The Celtics are riding a seven-game streak in which they have been outscored in the first quarter. For the season, Boston is 12-26 (31.6 percent) in games in which they were down after the first 12 minutes of play.
- At one point on Sunday, the Clippers led by as many as 35 points which was the second-largest deficit Boston has faced this season. On March 3, Boston trailed the Cleveland Cavaliers by as many as 44 points.
- Isaiah Thomas is averaging 7.4 free throw attempts per game since joining the Celtics. Only five players in the NBA have averaged more free throws since his first game with Boston on Feb. 22: James Harden (12.4), Russell Westbrook (11.5), DeMarcus Cousins (10.2), DeAndre Jordan (8.7) and Gordon Hayward whose 7.4 free throw attempts average is percentage points higher than Thomas.
- A Hornets player has gone off for at least 30 points against Boston in three of the last four games. Al Jefferson had 32 points on April 11, 2014; Kemba Walker had 33 points on Jan. 5 of this year and Mo Williams had 31 on Feb. 27.
- Speaking of Williams, he has had at least one 3-pointer made in 20 straight games which ties him with Philadelphia’s Isaiah Canaan and Dallas’ Chandler Parsons for the second-longest streak of games with at least a 3-pointer made. Golden State’s Stephen Curry has at least one made 3-pointer in the Warriors’ last 64 games.