What: Charlotte Hornets (8-27) (4-14 away) at San Antonio Spurs (6-30) (2-15 home)
When: 8:00pm Eastern
Where: Frost Bank Center; San Antonio, TX
How to watch: Bally Sports Southeast, NBA League Pass (was originally scheduled for ESPN but was flexed out)
Outfitting: Hornets–Classic (teal), Spurs–Statement (black)
Game Lines: Hornets +1.5
Injuries:
Hornets: LaMelo Ball-questionable(!!) (ankle), Cody Martin-questionable (groin), Frank Ntilikina-questionable (leg), PJ Washington-doubtful (foot), Mark Williams-out (back), Gordon Hayward-out (calf)
Spurs: Sidy Cissoko-out (ankle), Zach Collins-out (ankle)
Like I said above, this game was supposed to ESPN, but I guess the decision makers thought this wasn’t going to get enough eyeballs, so they nixed it from the network. It was also going to be at 10:00, so maybe it’s actually a win for us that this game got taken off prime time. I think it got replaced by Pelicans at Nuggets, which is an infinitely better game.
This game is still interesting for the reason they scheduled it for prime time. It boasts the top two picks in the draft, who are both having All Rookie caliber seasons. Victor Wembanyama has been as advertised. He’s averaging 19.2 points, 10.1 rebounds, 3.2 blocks, 3.1 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. The turnovers are a little high and the shooting percentages are a little low, but he’s a rookie playing on a bad team. He’s been very, very good and is going to give the Hornets all sort of problems tonight. The Hornets are insistent on bullying into the paint and throwing up contested shots. Wemby is going to block a bunch of them tonight.
The Spurs have other intriguing young pieces as well. Keldon Johnson is a bowling ball with arms and legs. Devin Vassell is a burgeoning scorer that’s a threat at all three levels of the floor. Jeremy Sochan has funky hair and a funky one handed free throw.
The Hornets might get some reinforcements from the cavalry tonight. LaMelo Ball and Cody Martin have been upgraded to questionable, so their returns are imminent even if they don’t come tonight. If they do come back, it’s at least against a softer opponent so they can work their way back into rhythm.
