What: Charlotte Hornets (8-27) (2-14 away) at Los Angeles Lakers (20-16) (12-5 home)
When: 10:30pm Eastern
Where: crypto.com Arena; Los Angeles, CA
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network, NBA League Pass
Outfitting: Hornets–Association (white), Lakers–City (purple)
Game Lines: Hornets +8.5, Hornets money line +300, O/U 220.5
Injuries:
Hornets: Tre Mann-out (back), Grant Williams-out (knee)
Lakers: LeBron James-probable (foot), Anthony Davis-probable (foot), Cam Reddish-questionable (back), Christian Wood-out (knee), Jared Vanderbilt-out (foot), Jalen Hood-Schifino-out (hamstring)
First things first–this game might not even be played tonight. The city of Los Angeles is currently being ravaged by wildfires. It’s scary, sad, and all of those things. Thoughts go out to those in the city dealing with all of that. Hopefully firefighters are able to get them under control before too much longer.
It’s kind of crazy that the game is still expected to be played at this point. I know the greater Los Angeles area is very large and it’s not entirely engulfed in flames, but I can’t imagine there are people that think a good way to spend their evening right now is to go to a basketball game. But what do I know.
Assuming the game is played at its scheduled time, the Hornets try to get their second win in a row against a Lakers team that’s been up and down this season. They started the season 10-4, but all four of the losses came in a five game span. That was followed by a spell of a lot of losing before seven wins in nine games pushed them comfortably above .500. Now they’ve lost their last two.
For the first time in his career, LeBron James’s team is worse when he’s on the floor when he’s on the bench, and it’s not even close. Prior to this season, the worst LeBron ranked in on/off difference was in the 70th percentile in the league, according to Cleaning the Glass. His on/off rating was +3.1 that year. This season, his on/off rating is -14.5, ranking him in the fourth percentile league wide. Father time comes for everyone. LeBron’s box score numbers seem fine, but in his older age, he’s just not moving as he tries to conserve energy. According to NBA’s player tracking, LeBron has the fifth slowest average speed when on the court in the entire league. He’s doing none of the little things.
Anthony Davis has been the actual superstar of the team and is averaging 25.8 points, 11.9 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game. Keeping him in check should be the primary focus of the Hornets defensively. Austin Reaves has been fine too. Dalton Knecht had that stretch where everyone was like oH hOw’D hE fAlL sO fAr In ThE dRaFt but has been brutally cold since the start of December. That probably means he’ll hit like six threes against the Hornets.
The Hornets got a nice win on Tuesday over the Suns. The Lakers are a similar but slightly better team. Let’s see if the suddenly mostly healthy Hornets can string together a couple of wins.
UPDATE: The game has been postponed to a later date. The Hornets next scheduled game is also in LA against the Clippers on Saturday night. We’ll see if that game gets postponed as well.
