What: Charlotte Hornets (6-10) (5-3 home) vs Orlando Magic (11-7) (3-7 away)
When: 7:00pm Eastern
Where: Spectrum Center; Charlotte, NC
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network, NBA League Pass
Outfitting: Hornets–Association (white), Magic–Statement (blue)
Game Lines: Hornets +6.5, Hornets money line +195, O/U 213.5
Injuries:
Hornets: Miles Bridges-out (knee), Tre Mann-out (back), Mark Williams-out (foot), Nick Richards-out (ribs), DaQuan Jeffries-out (hand), Grant Williams-out (knee)
Magic: Wendell Carter-questionable (foot), Paolo Banchero-out (oblique)
The Hornets healthy bodies are dwindling. It’s something we haven’t seen since last season. And the season before that. I’m starting to worry that players aren’t going to want to play here for fear of their own personal safety. It’s quite something.
The nine healthy Hornets plus the two way players will square off against a Magic team that beat them up and took their lunch money a couple of weeks ago. The Hornets shot just 40% from the field and were outscored 42-25 over the game’s final 16-and-a-half minutes. Brandon Miller shot just 3-of-18 from the field and 1-of-11 from the field.
But these are different Charlotte Hornets and this is a different Brandon Miller. The sophomore is averaging 33 points, 7 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game over his last three while shooting 56.1% from the field and 55.9% from three. He’s been on fire. LaMelo Ball hasn’t been quite as efficient, but he’s put up huge numbers in each of the last two games as well.
The Hornets will need both of their star duo to shoot the lights out again since there are almost no bodies left to help shoulder the scoring burden. With Miles Bridges and Tre Mann still out, there aren’t any other true shot creators left on the roster. It’s all the effort and 3&D guys. The Magic’s suffocating defense doesn’t allow easy shots, so the Hornets need their best offensive players to do the heavy lifting.
To make the uphill climb even steeper, the Magic are absolutely rolling right now. They’ve won eight out of their last nine including road wins over the Suns and Lakers. Franz Wagner led the team in scoring in all eight of the wins and has topped 30 points in five of his last seven outings.
It looks like it’s going to be a sluggish, low scoring game. The Hornets need to limit Wagner as best they can, as he’s been the primary catalyst for the Magic offense without Banchero. If they can do that, they have a chance to drag the Magic down and grind out a win.
