What: Charlotte Hornets (5-11) at Brooklyn Nets (9-6)
When: 7:30pm Eastern
Where: Barclays Center; Brooklyn, NY
How to watch: Bally Sports Southeast, NBA League Pass
Outfitting: Hornets–Association (white), Nets–City (black)
Game Lines: Hornets +8.5, O/U 225.5
Injuries:
Hornets: Brandon Miller-questionable (ankle), LaMelo Ball-out (ankle), Nick Richards-out (concussion), Cody Martin-out (knee), Frank Ntilikina-out (leg)
Nets: Cam Thomas-probable (ankle), Dennis Smith Jr-questionable (back), Ben Simmons-out (back)
The Hornets get the fortune of facing Cam Thomas in his return from an ankle sprain that’s kept him out for the last three weeks or so. He’s sneaky been one of the better scorers in the NBA this season after a scorching hot start, but some bouts of inconsistency started to surface in the games before his injury. He had games with shooting nights of 4-of-19, 6-of-18, and 6-of-14 in the 20 minutes before he got hurt. He’s going to put his shots up, whether they’re going in or not. The Hornets will hope that he’ll be rusty after the layoff and shoot the Nets out of the game.
Elsewhere, center Nicolas Claxton is back for the Nets, which might almost help the Hornets in a weird way. In the last meeting between these two teams, the Nets played most of the game without a conventional center, and the Hornets had no answer. Dorian Finney-Smith and Royce O’Neale played as the nominal centers, and their ability to stretch the floor played Mark Williams to the bench. The Hornets need to do a better job of dictating lineups in situations like that, but it probably won’t be a problem tonight. The Hornets have been going small in the absence of Nick Richards, so we’ll probably see a pretty significant number of minutes with no traditional center on the floor for either team.
The Nets come into this game hot. They’ve won three in a row, and they rank fifth in both offensive and defensive efficiency in that three game sample. The biggest fear for the Hornets is probably the Nets outside shooting. Their second in the league in 3-point percentage and 40% of their scoring comes from behind the 3-point line. If the Hornets lose track of their marks on the perimeter, which has been a recurring theme all season long, we could see the Nets put 130 again.
