What: Charlotte Hornets (41-36) (20-19 home) vs Indiana Pacers (18-58) (7-31 away)
When: 7:00pm Eastern
Where: Spectrum Center; Charlotte, NC
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network, NBA League Pass
Outfitting: Hornets–Statement (purple), Pacers–Association (white)
Game Lines: Hornets -15.5, Hornets money line -1450, O/U 233.5
Injuries:
Hornets: Moussa Diabate-questionable (ankle), Grant Williams-out (knee injury management), PJ Hall-out (ankle)
Pacers: (deep breath in) Pascal Siakam-probable (knee), Obi Toppin-probable (foot), Tyrese Haliburton-out (achilles), Ivica Zubac-out (ribs), Andrew Nembhard-out (back), Aaron Nesmith-out (neck), TJ McConnell-out (hamstring), Jarace Walker-out (back), Johnny Furphy-out (knee)
It’s the penultimate home game of the regular season for the Hornets. They face a Pacers team that has won three of their last 21 games. However, they have won two in a row and three of their last five. Of those three wins, two are over the Magic and Heat. That means one of two things:
- The Pacers are Hornets fans and trying to help them in the playoff race
- The Pacers are Southeast division killers
The former is good. That would mean the Pacers would be nice and let the Hornets win to boost themselves up in the standings. If the latter is true, that would be bad. The Hornets are in the southeast division, and we don’t need them losing this game.
The Pacers have been competitive in their last few games. Even in their two most recent losses, they pushed both Los Angeles teams to the ends of their games. Pascal Siakam is the obvious danger man. He’s a headache to guard in the mid post and is a capable passer if he draws extra attention. Be ready for the spins.
Unfortunately for Siakam, a lot of the guys he would rely on should he draw extra attention are out tonight. The Pacers have been heavily reliant on unsustainably good 3-point shooting from their deep rotation guys. In the last five games, Ethan Thompson, Micah Potter, Obi Toppin, and Jay Huff are also shooting at least 44% from three, and the former two are at or above 60%. They could always keep that going, but it could also dry up at any moment.
The Hornets will need to key in on getting the ball out of Siakam’s hands and then running any perimeter spot up opportunities off the line. There’s almost no creation ability in the lineup outside of Siakam, so the Hornets should be able to keep their offense in check. The defense hasn’t been great, so the Hornets offense should be able to do what they do.
The Hornets currently have a half game lead over the Magic and a full game lead over the Heat. The Magic have a winnable game against Dallas. The Heat have the night off tonight, but they host the Wizards on Saturday. The Hornets have a daunting four game stretch to close the season after tonight. They need this win to give themselves just a little bit of breathing room before that home stretch.
