Charlotte Hornets set to finish preseason with road game against Haliburton and Siakaim's Indiana Pacers

Charles Lee and Rick Carlisle look for one final win before the regular season starts

Nell Redmond-Imagn Images

Injury Report

Hornets: OUT DaQuan Jeffries (Hand), Mark Williams (Foot), Cody Martin (Wrist), Nick Smith Jr. (Groin)

Pacers: OUT Johnny Furphy (Ankle)

Game Preview

It's not unlikely that both the Charlotte Hornets and the Indiana Pacers will rest multiple if not all of their starters, with the 2024-15 season less than a week away. Enough preseason games have been played for the respective coaches to know what they will be working with in the upcoming months.

For the Pacers, it looks a lot like last season. In their three preseason contests, Indiana has scored an average of 125 points per game and conceded an average of 122.7. Not only do they have the highest field goal percentage out of all teams, they also allow the highest field goal percentage on the other end. Expect them to play their usual fast-paced, offensive-minded basketball tonight, no matter which players suit up.

Charles Lee has worked on establishing his very own style of play, although Tuesday's loss against a depleted Knicks squad raised a few question marks. The Hornets got heavily out-rebounded after dominating that category in each of their previous preseason games.

However, LaMelo Ball and company also managed to somewhat control their turnovers, which was one of the major concerns in their other preseason contests. If the Hornets can put together a solid performance on the glass, while keeping the number of mishaps somewhere around a dozen, it will be a nice end to an overall promising preseason.

Key Match-up

Vasilije Micic vs TJ Mcconnell

Micic has had a very rough start to his first full preseason as a Hornet. His worst display came in a win against Miami, when he played only four minutes, committed just as many turnovers, and amassed a plus-minus of -16. Tonight, he will face one of the league's best backup point guards in TJ McConnell. A good performance by the Serb would not only make up for his underwhelming preseason as a whole, it would also show Charlotte's higher-ups that they don't need to worry about their backcourt depth as of now.

Predicted Starting Fives

Position	Charlotte Hornets	Indiana Pacers
Point Guard	LaMelo Ball	Tyrese Haliburton
Shooting Guard	Brandon Miller	Andrew Nembhard
Small Forward	Tidjane Salaün	Aaron Nesmith
Power Forward	Miles Bridges	Pascal Siakam
Center	Nick Richards	Myles Turner

Charlotte's next game will be their first of the new NBA season. It will tip off in Houston on the 23rd of October at 8 P.M. EST.

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