What: Charlotte Hornets (10-35) (5-17 home) vs Chicago Bulls (22-26) (8-15 away)
When: 7:00pm Eastern
Where: Spectrum Center; Charlotte, NC
How to watch: Bally Sports Southeast, NBA League Pass
Outfitting: Hornets–City (teal/mint), Bulls–Statement (black)
Game Lines: Hornets +2.5, O/U 218.5
Injuries:
Hornets: Miles Bridges-probable (elbow), LaMelo Ball-doubtful (ankle), Mark Williams-out (back), Gordon Hayward-out (calf)
Bulls: Zach LaVine-out (ankle), Patrick Williams-out (foot), Torrey Craig-out (heel), Dalen Terry-questionable (heel)
The Charlotte Hornets are wrapping up a four game road trip with a visit from the Bulls. They’ve lost each of the first three games with at least one quarter where they did some sort of no-defense challenge or something. The loss to the Knicks on Monday was arguably the best performance of the bunch since there was only one bad quarter, but the second half almost comeback against the Jazz was pretty cool as well.
They looked decent in the fourth quarter against the Knicks after Steve Clifford got ejected for going absolutely ballistic on the officials for not calling a foul when Brandon Miller was knocked over attempting a floater.
Steve Clifford was ejected for this no call on a bucket by Brandon Miller pic.twitter.com/46WahTSNjR
— Bally Sports: Hornets (@HornetsOnBally) January 30, 2024
Hopefully all that is enough momentum for the Hornets to put together a full four quarters of professional basketball. They face a Bulls team that is without Zach LaVine again, and this time it’s not going as well. They reeled off a decent winning streak in his first absence, but they’re 2-3 in his most recent stretch of missed games with the wins coming over a Grizzlies team that’s surprisingly competitive sometimes and the Trail Blazers are mostly not.
Without LaVine in the lineup, the Bulls have had a pretty balanced scoring attack that’s led by DeMar DeRozan and Coby White. Ayo Donsumu has stepped up in the last few games while Nikola Vucevic has taken on more of a supporting role. Alex Caruso and Andre Drummond have also averaged double figures in the five games that LaVine has most recently missed.
The Bulls play with the slowest pace in the league, which should be helpful for a Hornets team that tends to get shredded in transition. They aren’t particularly strong in any area where the Hornets are weak. They don’t take or make many threes, get to the line much, or attack the paint. They get more points from the mid range than any team in the league, which should put less strain on the Hornets ailing defense.
I say all that good matchup stuff knowing that the Hornets are 0-3 against the Bulls this season. Maybe tonight is the night to snap the streak.
