Swarm and Sting
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Charlotte Hornets travel to Oakland to take on the league-leading Golden State Warriors

By Elijah Edwards

CHARLOTTE, NC - DECEMBER 06: Kevin Durant
CHARLOTTE, NC - DECEMBER 06: Kevin Durant /
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We’re getting near the halfway point of the 2017-2018 NBA season and the number one question on Charlotte Hornets’ fans’ minds is whether or not this season can be saved. Perhaps a win over the defending NBA champions could be part of the answer.

It’s safe to say the Charlotte Hornets (12-22) are terrible on the road. In fact, 2-12 is the worst road record in the league. I usually try to find a positive side to sports, but there’s not much of a silver lining in that cloud. One nugget of hope is that there’s still time for the Hornets to climb out of the Eastern Conference basement. Unfortunately, their next road game is against the Golden State Warriors (28-7), and yeah, that doesn’t bode well for our Hornets.

The two teams have already played this year. It was in Charlotte, back on December 6th. The Warriors won that game 101-87, behind Kevin Durant‘s second career triple-double with the team. The Warriors were without two of their key pieces in Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. Still, they weren’t really needed as Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson combined for 57 points.

Charlotte is coming off a 91-102 loss to the Boston Celtics. They are 13th in the East. Golden State is coming off a 126-101 win over the Utah Jazz. They are 1st in the West.

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Golden State Warriors vs Charlotte Hornets
10:30 p.m. EST, Friday, December 29th, 2017
Oracle Arena
Fox Sports Southeast

Injury Report:

CHA:

Cody Zeller – Knee (Out)

Steve Clifford

GS:

Stephen Curry – Ankle (Out)

Omri Casspi – Ankle (Questionable)

Things to keep an eye on:

Those hoping to see Steph Curry playing against his hometown team will be disappointed yet again as he will miss this game with an ankle injury. At least there’s something the Hornets don’t have to worry about, but it’s not like they don’t have their other three All-Star players. In their first game, the Hornets held the Warriors to 35.7% from three. That doesn’t sound that low, but Golden State shoots 38.6% from three on average, so perhaps the Hornets could repeat or better that. They’ll almost certainly need to. Kemba Walker scored 24 points in the last game. Without Curry, he could replicate that output.

Keys to the game:

Despite his triple-double, Durant only shot 3-10 from deep. Still, he shot 46.4% overall, so he did his damage. If Michael Kidd-Gilchrist can disrupt him and bother his shot, he may be able to mitigate KD’s production. The Warriors are ranked 27th in the league in turnovers, committing 16.2 a game. Unfortunately, the Hornets are 30th in the league in steals at 6.3 a game. It’ll be interesting to see if the Hornets can buck that trend against one of the more turnover prone teams in the NBA. Dwight Howard will also need to stay out of foul trouble if they want to defend Draymond. Dwight currently ranks 4th in the NBA in personal fouls per game.

Next: Three trades Charlotte must make

As of right now, this game may seem like a bit like a David and Goliath situation, but the Hornets are a scrappy bunch. If they can play physical with the Warriors and get them off their game, they may be able to pull off the upset on the road, which is something they sorely need. Time is slowly running out for this team. Hopefully, this one will be worth staying up a little late for Hornets fans.

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