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Watch It! – Celtics at Hornets

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Here are five things to watch out for when the Boston Celtics and the Charlotte Hornets meet at 7 p.m. tonight at the Spectrum Center.

Bradley Doing a Bit of Everything

Avery Bradley has been Boston’s rock during its first two games of the season.

The veteran guard has been the Celtics’ third-highest scorer, at 16.5 points per game, and is shooting the ball efficiently from beyond the arc, with a team-high 57.1 percent clip.

Bradley’s also dished out five assists during both of Boston’s contests – a feat that he had only accomplished 13 times during his first six seasons.

Perhaps Bradley’s most surprising offering has been his contribution on the boards. The 6-foot-2 guard is averaging a team-high 7.5 rebounds per game, which is about three times his career average of 2.6 RPG.

Bradley will look to continue his strong all-around play tonight against the Hornets, who he has scored more points against (232 total) than any other opponent in his career.

Battle Better on the Boards

While Bradley has been outstanding on the boards so far, the rest of the team has not been. The fact that a 6-2 guard is leading the team in rebounding says enough.

Boston’s weakest area through the first two games has been its presence on the glass, particularly Thursday night when it was out-rebounded by the Bulls, 55-36. The key stat in that game was Chicago’s 18-3 advantage on the offensive boards, which led to an 18-5 advantage in second chance points, and was the primary factor during its 105-99 win.

Boston’s rebounding trend has to change tonight against a Charlotte team that has corralled 100 total boards through its first two games.

Questionable Status for Charlotte’s Bigs

One player who would likely give Boston issues on the glass tonight is 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert, who tallied 15 points, nine rebounds and five blocks during Charlotte’s season opening win Wednesday night against Milwaukee.

Last night, however, Hibbert lasted only last four minutes against Miami before having to be removed from the contest with a knee injury. Coach Steve Clifford said after the game that the team would likely know this afternoon whether or not Hibbert will be able to play tonight against the C’s.

Reserve center Frank Kaminsky is also questionable tonight with a foot injury.

If those two are unable to go, Cody Zeller, who started the second half for the Hornets last night, will likely take a large bulk of the minutes at center.

Zeller Boosting Boston’s Bench

In addition, if Hibbert and Kaminsky do not play tonight, we’ll likely see a bit of Zeller-on-Zeller action.

Cody’s older brother Tyler has been Boston’s top contributor off the bench through two games, and even earned a starting role during the second half of Thursday’s contest in Chicago.

Zeller has contributed 19 points on 53.6 percent shooting, nine rebounds, four assists and four blocks during 37 minutes of play for Boston.

C’s Controlled Charlotte in Preseason Play

The Celtics had three blowout wins of 15 points or more during the preseason. Two of them came against Charlotte.

Boston beat the Hornets 107-92 on Oct. 1 on the road, and then dominated them again two nights later, 104-86, while benching four of its starters at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.

The Hornets, however, are off to a hot start to their regular season. Charlotte opened up the campaign with a 107-96 win in Milwaukee Wednesday night, and then rallied from a 19-point second-half deficit last night to beat the Heat in Miami.

If Charlotte wins again tonight, it would be the first 3-0 start in Hornets/Bobcats franchise history.