What: Charlotte Hornets (7-17) at Toronto Raptors (10-15)
When: 7:30 PM EST
Where: Scotiabank Arena; Toronto, Ontario
How to watch: Bally Sports Southeast, NBA League Pass
Outfitting: Hornets-Icon (teal), Raptors-Association (white)
Game Lines: Hornets +11, O/U 224
Injuries:
Hornets: LaMelo Ball-out (ankle), Amari Bailey-out (G League), Gordon Hayward-questionable (stomach virus), Cody Martin-out (knee), Frank Ntilikina-out (leg), PJ Washington-questionable (shoulder), Mark Williams-doubtful (back).
Raptors: Javon Freeman-Liberty-out (G League), Christian Koloko-out (illness), Markquis Nowell-out (G League), Jontay Porter-out (G League).
The Charlotte Hornets have a chance to bounce back from last Saturday’s historic loss in tonight’s matchup with the Toronto Raptors.
The Raptors are the only team the Hornets have beaten in the month of December, claiming a 119-116 win back on Dec. 8. Gordon Hayward led the way with 24 points and Terry Rozier added 21 points and 13 assists as the Hornets shot 55.7% FG, 52% 3P (13-25) and 90% FT, a historic (in a good way) shooting night for the team. Since then, Charlotte has lost four-straight games, the most recent of which by 53 points. To say that this has been a December to forget for Hornets fans would be an understatement.
Toronto is quite similar to the Hornets in my eyes, even if its record and injury situation is significantly better than Charlotte’s. The Raptors are in the bottom-half of the league in offense and defense, and really have no identity as a team beyond positional size — news flash to Masai Ujiri, there are a lot of NBA teams that could claim “guys being 6-foot-7” as its identity. As a result, they’ve just been slowly sputtering out over the last two seasons. The veteran talent doesn’t seem long for the world and outside of its young marquee player, there’s not much cooking. I’d be shocked if Toronto doesn’t blow it up at the deadline and end up finishing near the Hornets in the standings at year’s end.
The Hornets were already going to be without enough of its roster tonight. To make matters worse, there is a chance Miles Bridges was denied entry into Canada due to his no contest plea to felony domestic violence charges compiled with the new charges that surfaced early in the season, for which he has a court date in February.
Obviously, even a tweet from Bridges himself is not concrete evidence that he was denied entry into Canada, nor has that been reported by a reputable source. Hornets PR did not list him on its most recent injury report. We’ll find out for sure today whether or not Bridges was able to join the team in Toronto. Great situation to be in with such an important player to the team’s success. Totally worth it.
