The Charlotte Hornets visit the struggling Brooklyn Nets on tonight at Barclays Center, with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m. ET. This Eastern Conference matchup pits a Hornets team fighting for play-in positioning against a Nets squad that has all but mailed in the season.
Charlotte sits 10th in the East, the last play-in team in, just a half-game behind the Miami Heat for the 9 seed and Orlando Magic for the 8 seed.
The Hornets are currently averaging 116.1 points per game on 46% shooting while allowing 111.8 points. Charlotte is currently on a two game losing streak after losing on back to back nights to the Sixers and the Celtics, two other Eastern Conference playoff teams. Injury concerns include Grant Williams (knee, day-to-day) and Tidjane Salaun (calf, day-to-day), but the core remains healthy.
LaMelo Ball officially reached the 65 games played mark against Boston the other night, making him eligible for end-of-season awards. This is the most games he has been available in a season since his Rookie year.
Brooklyn, meanwhile, owns the second-worst record in the East and has lost 36 of its last 42 games. The Nets average just 106.3 points on 44.4% shooting and surrender 115.4 points, ranking near the bottom league-wide in offensive efficiency and net rating. They are playing out the string, focusing on development and lottery positioning.
Key absences hurt Brooklyn badly: leading scorer Michael Porter Jr. (24.2 PPG, 7.1 RPG) is out with a hamstring injury, along with Egor Demin, Danny Wolf (ankle), Terance Mann (Achilles), and Day'Ron Sharpe (thumb). Jalen Wilson is questionable with illness.
This is the third meeting between the teams this season. Charlotte won the first meeting convincingly on opening night of the season, while Brooklyn took the December rematch behind a big Porter Jr. performance. Without him and other contributors tonight, the Nets will lean heavily on committee scoring and hustle from their remaining rotation players.
The Hornets should dominate the glass and force turnovers against a depleted Nets front court and you should expect the Hornets to be firing on all cylinders offensively with a day of rest, yesterday.