What: Charlotte Hornets (8-26) (4-12 home) vs Sacramento Kings (22-14) (9-7 away)
When: 7:00pm Eastern
Where: Spectrum Center; Charlotte, NC
How to watch: Bally Sports Southeast, NBA League Pass
Outfitting: Hornets–Association (white), Kings–Icon (black)
Game Lines: Hornets +6.5
Injuries:
Hornets: Cody Martin-questionable (groin), PJ Washington-doubtful (foot), LaMelo Ball-out (ankle), Mark Williams-out (back), Gordon Hayward-out (calf), Frank Ntilikina-out (leg)
Kings: None, it seems
The Charlotte Hornets always seem to find a way to pull off weird wins against Sacramento. Back in 2016, we had the original “Miracle After Midnight” when Troy Daniels made eight 3-pointers, including the game winner in double overtime. In 2021, the Hornets pulled off two last second comebacks thanks to missed free throws by unlikely sources. First, Buddy Hield missed a free throw that would have put the Kings up three with 10 seconds left. Malik Monk converted an and-1 on the other end with one second left to give the Hornets the win. Ten months later, De’Aaron Fox missed to free throws with the Kings down one with two seconds to play after Cody Martin made a free throw on the other end to give the Hornets the lead. Just last week, the Hornets closed the game on a 17-4 run over the final 3:54 to pull off a seven point win.
Given Monday night’s heartbreaking loss in overtime, it’d be nice to see the Hornets pull off another unlikely win over the Kings. It’s a team they’ve fared well against, obviously. They’re 13-4 against the Kings since the start of the 2015 season, and the start of that strong run of play was the aforementioned Miracle After Midnight.
To help matters, the Kings are on the second night of a back to back after having to dig themselves out of a hole against the Detroit Pistons. They gave up 47 points in the first quarter but were able to limit the Pistons to 63 points the rest of the way as they ended up winning by 21 points. Still, Domantas Sabonis had to play 38 minutes in the win. Surely they’re gassed, right?
On the bad side, Sabonis is coming off one of his better games of the season. He scored 37 points in a triple double performance. He is actually hard to guard, probably. He was not good against the Hornets in the first meeting and turned the ball over 11 times. He’ll surely be extra motivated to play well tonight. De’Aaron Fox, Keegan Murray, and Malik Monk are all coming off strong games as well.
The Hornets, as per usual, will try to pull this off without anywhere close to their full complement of players. I’d guess Martin and Washington will eventually be ruled out, leaving the Hornets without three starters and two players that would be starters given the other three injuries. Miles Bridges and Terry Rozier will need to be the heroes again, and hopefully Brandon Miller will join the party this time. Nick Smith Jr. has been playing well, and the Hornets will need him to get hot off the bench again.
