The Charlotte Hornets Look to Bounce Back Against the Chicago Bulls

The Charlotte Hornets will look to take a 2-1 lead in the season series against the Chicago Bulls with a win against them in the Windy City.

The Charlotte Hornets (10-8) are set to take on the Chicago Bulls (11-5) in the Windy City following a defeat at the hands of Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors. The Hornets are set to bounce back from that disappointing loss.

The Bulls are coming off of two straight wins at home against the San Antonio Spurs and the Denver Nuggets. They will look to make it three straight home wins with a victory over the Charlotte Hornets.

The Charlotte Hornets will be without Al Jefferson once again in this one and it will be interesting to see if they can win their first game without him. He is their go to big man in the post and without him, they are missing a key piece of their offensive game plan.

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Other players will have to step up in his place. The bench unit can always be relied upon to help with the scoring load as they have been strong contributors that have kept the Charlotte Hornets in some game and have also won some of the games this season.

The Bulls are have played well at home with an 8-3 in the United Center this season, while the Charlotte Hornets have struggled away from home this year as they have only gone 4-4 on the road.

The Hornets will look to improve on their away record and get a quality win against an opponent which many expect to compete for a top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Hornets need to beat teams like the Bulls if they want to make their mark in the East.

Charlotte Hornets (10-8) @ Chicago Bulls (11-5)

8:00 p.m. EST, Saturday, December 5th – United Center

Broadcast on FOX Sports Southeast

Injury Update:

CHA:

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – OUT (right shoulder surgery), missed last 18 games
Al Jefferson – OUT (left calf strain), missed last game

CHI:

Mike Dunleavy (back) is OUT
Kirk Hinrich (left hip pointer) is PROBABLE
Aaron Brooks (left hamstring strain) is PROBABLE
Nikola Mirotić (concussion and facial laceration) is TBD.

Biggest Story:

Who will take the season series?

The Charlotte Hornets and the Chicago Bulls will play a total of four times this season with this match-up being their third meeting. The team have split the first two with each one winning at home. The Hornets blew out the Bulls in Charlotte and the Bulls stole a close one against the Hornets in Chicago.

This game is in Chicago so if the trend stays as is, the Bulls should take this one. Whoever wins this game will have a one game lead in the season series and will take a 2-1 lead heading into the final game of the series which is later in the year.

Best Match-up to Watch:

Jimmy Butler vs Nicolas Batum

While I don’t think that they will start the game covering each other as that task will likely be given to P.J. Hairston, these two players are still some of the best two-way players in the NBA. Butler broke out after last season when he was given an extended offensive role on the team. Since then, he has gotten a max extension from the Bulls and is now the scoring leader and overall leader for that team.

Batum has been given an expanded offensive role this year with his new Charlotte Hornets team and looks to break out in the same way that Jimmy Butler did. Batum is an all-around offensive talent that can shoot, pass, and handle the ball but he is being put to the test this year and must cut down on his turnovers per game which are far too high for a player of his talent.

I expect both of these great players to be defending each other to close out the game just like they did last time down the stretch.

Next: Round Table Discussion

Check back with Swarm and Sting for the post games recaps, news, and analysis for the Charlotte Hornets.

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