Charlotte has had a rough go of it lately, losing five in a row. They look to get back on track Friday night against the Bulls in Chicago.
The Charlotte Hornets (5-8) have fallen victim to a brutal stretch of games lately, losing their last five. They travel to the Windy City to take on the 2-10 Chicago Bulls. With the help of newly returned Nicolas Batum, Charlotte will look to improve upon their atrocious 1-6 road record. The Bulls fell victim to the Thunder 92-79 in their last game, whereas the Hornets lost a close one against the Cavaliers 115-107.
The injury bug that plagued the Hornets earlier in the season seems to have bitten the Bulls, as they’ll be without David Nwaba, Nikola Mirotic, Cameron Payne, and Zach Lavine. Additionally, Justin Holiday is questionable for Friday’s game, as he missed the game against the Thunder due to the birth of his child. Charlotte fares much better with only a day-to-day Treveon Graham and Julyan Stone on the injury report.
This game is simply a must win for Charlotte. Excuses are running thin now that the team is close to full strength and has had plenty of rest lately. This is a team should beat, and if the Hornets want to break their recent streak of bad luck, there’s no better game to do it.
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Friday, Nov. 17, 2017 • 8:00 PM ET
United Center • Chicago, IL
Local: FSSE-CHA, WGN
Radio: 610 AM The Fan
Keys to the Game
- Stop the random player from killing us. The most bizarre Charlotte Hornets tradition has to be getting slaughtered by random bench players. A list of bench players who have scored over 15 in the last 5 games: Bryn Forbes, Rudy Gay, Gorgui Dieng, Jamal Crawford, Doug McDermott, Shane Larkin, and Terry Rozier. If Charlotte wants to turn around their fortunes, stopping bench explosions will be crucial.
- Score more than 20 every quarter. Charlotte has only had one win this year in which they didn’t score 20 points every quarter, against the Hawks. Every single loss this year has featured a sub-20 point quarter. If Charlotte can remain consistent and break that 20 point barrier every quarter this Friday, they should be in good shape.
- Shoot better. Obviously, it’s easier said than done, but this Hornets team has posted some abysmal shooting percentages. They rank in the bottom third of the league in… pretty much every shooting stat imaginable. FG, FGA, FG%, 3P, 3PA, 3P%, 2P, 2PA, 2P%, FT%, eFG%, TS%, all in the 20th-30th rank in the league. Sometimes the fix is as simple as putting the ball in the bottom of the net.
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Friday is a better time than ever to right the ship. Frankly, Chicago is sub-par competition. If Charlotte wants to get back playoff competition, they should beat teams of this caliber. Nicolas Batum and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist are finally back and playing well. No more time for excuses, it’s time to win.