Preseason Game Preview: Charlotte Hornets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

Everything you need to know ahead of tonight's matchup in Charlotte.

GAME PREVIEW:

The Charlotte Hornets will play in front of its fans for the first time this season as they welcome in the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday evening. It'll also be their first up-close look at No. 2 overall pick Brandon Miller, who has continued to impress head coach Steve Clifford.

Charlotte will mix up its lineups and rotations tonight to not only try and solve their fourth quarter woes but to see if there are a few other combinations that could be deployed once the regular season starts.

"The one common thing is when we play with good pace and purpose, we create good offense," Clifford said Saturday. "Both games, really for the first three quarters we were pretty good. Our rebounding which in Miami was not very good, it was really good in Washington. We're fouling a lot and it's hard to play good defense when you foul a lot. And in Miami, we got the ball going to the basket well. In Washington, we didn't. Actually, OKC is one of the better teams in the league at keeping the ball out of the paint so it's actually an ideal team for us to play."

The game will be televised at 5 PM EST on Bally Sports Southeast.

KEY MATCHUP: LaMelo Ball defending Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

I know Cliff is interested in seeing how well the Hornets work the ball in the paint, but for me, I want to see how LaMelo holds up against one of the most dynamic point guards in the NBA. Ball has focused on improving his defense and not racking up fouls by being overly aggressive. This will be a good test for him on that end of the floor.

PROJECTED STARTERS:

Position	Hornets	Thunder
Point Guard	LaMelo Ball	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Shooting Guard	Terry Rozier	Josh Giddey
Small Forward	Brandon Miller	Luguentz Dort
Power Forward	PJ Washington	Jalen Williams
Center	Mark Williams	Chet Holmgren

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