Hornets face uphill battle at Madison Square Garden

Charlotte will be without multiple key players once again

Sam Sharpe-Imagn Images

INJURY REPORT

Hornets: OUT - LaMelo Ball (L Calf), Miles Bridges (R Knee), Tre Mann (Disc), Grant Williams (R ACL)

Knicks: OUT - Mitchell Robinson (L Ankle), QUESTIONABLE - Precious Achiuwa (L Hamstring), Cameron Payne (L Elbow)

Game Preview

Fans of the Charlotte Hornets might have felt like they're watching the same game over and over again as of late. That's how similar the team's most recent losses have been, not only in their margin of defeat but also in the way that each game has played out.

Missing multiple rotational players, the Hornets start off solid, before falling behind in the second or third quarter. Then they mount a comeback in the closing minutes, before narrowly losing in the end. Sometimes due to a missed call by the referees, and sometimes due to an individual mistake.

The biggest issue for Charles Lee has been finding consistent offense, especially in crunch time. Brandon Miller has been putting up big numbers since the brilliant LaMelo Ball went down, although the sophomore has been pretty shaky when it comes to efficiency.

As Tre Mann and Miles Bridges are still laboring injuries of their own, it's going to need more than Miller offensively. And for most parts, players have stepped up. The Hornets have gotten double-digit outings from the most unlikely sources, such as rookies Tidjane Saläun and KJ Simpson.

It will take plenty of those unexpected outbursts to have a shot at beating New York tonight. The Knicks sport the highest offensive rating in the league and have a variety of scoring weapons. But they also have a pretty glaring weakness.

In six of their eight losses stemming from this season, the Knickerbockers conceded more than 120 points. The most sufficient way to beat Brunson and Co. seems to be to outscore them while playing at least somewhat acceptable defense.

That's easier said than done, and many playoff teams like the Bucks, Suns, Nuggets, and Magic have failed to do so. Tim Thibodeau's squad is sitting at the 4th spot in the east for a reason. On the other hand, the Hornets are due for a win if they keep up their level of play.

Key Matchup - Keeping the defensive intensity high

Despite the Hornets' ongoing losing streak, they have played some pretty good defense as of late. In the last five Contests, they have only allowed an average of 101.8 points, the second lowest number in the NBA during that timespan.

Although it may not be surprising that the absence of LaMelo Ball has improved Charlotte's performance on the defensive end of the court, replacing him with Vasilije Micic certainly isn't the reason for the surge.

Head coach Charles Lee got everybody to completely buy-in during the five-game homestand, which is the major reason the squad competed in all those games right until the very end. It's going to be much harder to keep this up on the road against the league's best offense though.

Projected Starting Lineups

	Charlotte Hornets	New York Knicks
Point Guard	Vasilije Micic	Jalen Brunson
Shooting Guard	Brandon Miller	Mikal Bridges
Small Forward	Josh Green	Josh Hart
Power Forward	Tidjane Salaün	OG Anunoby
Center	Nick Richards	Karl-Anthony Towns

Charlotte's next contest will take place on friday when they welcome the Cleveland Cavaliers into town at 1pm EST.

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