What: Charlotte Hornets (7-24) (3-13 away) at Sacramento Kings (19-12) (11-5 home)
When: 10:00pm Eastern
Where: Golden 1 Center; Sacramento, CA
How to watch: Bally Sports Southeast, NBA League Pass
Outfitting: Hornets–Association (white), Kings–Statement (purple)
Game Lines: Hornets +15.5, O/U 232.5
Injuries:
Hornets: Terry Rozier-questionable (illness), Mark Williams-doubtful (back), LaMelo Ball-out (ankle), Gordon Hayward-out (calf), Frank Ntilikina-out (leg)
Kings: Kevin Huerter-probable (hand)
The Hornets play the final west coast game of their road trip tonight before stopping in Chicago on their way back home. The sledding doesn’t get any easier either. They’ve played four straight hopeful contenders coming into this game, which is also against a team that could be classified in that same group. The Kings are 19-12 and tied with the Clippers for the 4 seed in the Western Conference. They’ve regressed a bit offensively, but they’ve still managed to win games thanks in large part to De’Aaron Fox, who has elevated his game to superstar levels.
Fox is averaging 30 points per game on the dot, which is good for fifth best in the league. He’s suddenly become a high volume, high percentage 3-point shooter after being a nonfactor from deep for the first six seasons of his career. He’s attempting nearly nine threes per game and connecting on 40% of them. Along with that, he’s still attacking the basket and getting to the free throw line at an above average rate like he has for the majority of his career.
He’s complemented by Domantas Sabonis, who’s one of the best passing and rebounding bigs in the game. The rest of the team can shoot it. Sophomore Keegan Murray has found his form after a dreadful start to the season. He’s had a rough couple games, but he did have a game 47 points on 12-of-15 shooting from deep against the Jazz in mid-December. Kevin Huerter, Harrison Barnes, and Malik Monk all can stroke it.
Monk in particular has had the best season of his career. He’s averaging a career high 14.2 points per game and a career high (by far) 5.2 assists per game while shooting a career high 41.2% from deep. He’ll surely be motivated to show out against his old team, especially since they’re led by Steve Clifford, who many argue stunted Monk’s growth early in his career. He’s yet to have a good game against the Hornets, and I’m sure he knows that.
