Preview: Perpetually shorthanded Hornets travel to Brooklyn to face Nets

Dec 7, 2022 - 4:10 PM

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What: Charlotte Hornets (7-17) at Brooklyn Nets (13-12)

When: 7:30 PM EST

Where: Barclays Center; Brooklyn, N.Y.

How to watch: Bally Sports Southeast, NBA League Pass

Outfitting: Hornets — City (granite); Nets — City (white)

Injury report:

BRK: Kessler Edwards (G League assignment), OUT; Day’Ron Sharpe (G League assignment), OUT; Ben Simmons (knee), OUT; Edmond Sumner (glute contusion), QUESTIONABLE; Yuta Watanabe (hamstring), OUT.

CHA: LaMelo Ball (ankle sprain), OUT; Gordon Hayward (fractured scapula), OUT; Cody Martin (knee surgery), OUT; Dennis Smith Jr. (ankle sprain), OUT; JT Thor (G League assignment), OUT; Mark Williams (ankle sprain), OUT.

The Charlotte Hornets make a one-game pilgrimage to New York City to face the Brooklyn Nets, who have rebounded well and won seven of their last ten games after a slow start to the season.

Ben Simmons remains out tonight and will miss his fourth-straight game with knee soreness, though he’s hopeful to return to the lineup on Friday. Simmons also missed the first Hornets-Nets matchup of the season back on Nov. 5, which Brooklyn won, 98-94 with the help of 27 points and a clutch jumper in the final minute from Kevin Durant. This time around, the Nets will have Kyrie Irving as well, who was suspended for the last game. While the Hornets have only subtracted from their healthy roster since then, Brooklyn regains at least one of their sidelined stars.

On the season, the Nets rank 12th in offense and 13th in both defensive and net rating. Brooklyn happens to be the worst rebounding team (47 rebounding percentage) in the NBA; a big night from Mason Plumlee and/or Nick Richards that helps sway the possession battle could have a sizable impact. The Hornets have fallen out of the top-20 in defense (21st) and are still pulling up the rear offensively, ranking dead last with a 106.5 offensive rating. Until the team gets healthy, Charlotte’s offense is likely to stay near the bottom of the league, but there have been some bright spots lately as the young players get some extended run.

Over the last five games, the Hornets have shot 34 percent from deep (16th), up from 32.1 percent (29th) on the season, and we’ve seen plenty of intriguing flashes from Bryce McGowens, Kai Jones and Jalen McDaniels. The general watchability of this Hornets squad has definitely improved in the last week-and-a-half and that should continue until LaMelo Ball, Gordon Hayward and Cody Martin return to eat up the minutes of the Two-Way players and rookie-contract bigs currently in the rotation.

In unrelated news, which I’m sure not a single Hornets fan has been monitoring, Charlotte’s 7-17 record now places them in the bottom-four league-wide. Even though the Hornets have been better lately apart from a 35-point drubbing at the hands of the Celtics, they keep falling further away from the playoff/play-in tournament-caliber teams. A win tonight would go a long way towards keeping Charlotte in the “fighting for a spot” tier with the Knicks, Wizards, Bulls and Heat as opposed to the “tanking” tier with Detroit and Orlando.