What: Charlotte Hornets (4-7) (1-3 away) at Phoenix Suns (4-6) (4-3 home)
When: 9:00pm Eastern
Where: Mortgage Matchup Center; Phoenix, AZ
How to watch: Local TV (TV 64 in Charlotte), DAZN, NBA League Pass
Outfitting: Hornets–Association (white), Suns–Icon (pruple)
Game Lines: Hornets +7.5, Hornets money line +194, O/U 213.5
Injuries:
Hornets: Moussa Diabate-probable (quad), Grant Williams-probable (hamstring), Kon Knueppel-out (hamstring), Brandon Miller-out (hip), Dennis Schroder-out (foot)
Suns: Mark Williams-out (shoulder)
The big news for this game is the returns of Moussa Diabate and Grant Williams. We’ve seen Diabate for most of this year, but it seems like he’s working past some quadriceps tendinopathy that has been plaguing him for the last week of two. Grant Williams will be making his season debut after missing all of training camp and the start of the season with a hamstring injury. Hopefully his return goes better than Kon Knueppel’s did. I’m interested to see where Williams fits into this rotation. The obvious place for him to slot in would be Tidjane Salaun’s minutes, but Salaun is coming off a very good game against the Cavaliers on Monday. It might make for a perfect spot to ease Williams in with just a few minutes at a time.
On the other side, the Suns have been pretty healthy except for our old pal Mark Williams, who’s out as he recovers from a torn labrum he suffered in an offseason workout. Even with their good health, the Suns haven’t had a great year. They’ve won three of their last four, but that’s after a 1-5 start to the season. They seem like one of the more lost teams in the league. Their roster as constructed is supremely mediocre, and the team doesn’t control a first round pick until 2032. The Hornets even have one of those picks as a part of the Miles Bridges trade. They seem destined to win like 35 games a year for the foreseeable future unless they strike gold somewhere later in the draft.
As for this season, Devin Booker has been a little bit less of a focal point. Both his usage rate and his assist rate are down, but his scoring efficiency has improved a bit as a result. Behind him is an offensive committee led by Miles Bridges, Dillon Brooks, and Jalen Green with supplemental outside shooting provided by Luke Kennard, Collin Gillespie, and Jordan Goodwin.
As a whole, the Suns have been okay on offense, but they’ve been one of the worst defenses in the league. That means the Hornets will have a chance to build off their hot shooting night against the Cavs on Monday. Dillon Brooks has a reputation as a tenacious defender, but there isn’t really anyone else that intimidates you on that end of the floor. The rest of the starters are three spacey defenders in Booker, Bridges, and Green and an okay defensive center in Oso Ighodaro. There should be ample space to hoist away from three.
For those that haven’t been following along, Miles Bridges has been basically the exact same player in Phoenix as he was in Charlotte. He’s putting up some decent counting stats right in line with what he did in Charlotte along with the same less-than-ideal efficiency. We’ll get a chance to see what that looks like from the other side for the first time.
