Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets @ New York Knicks prediction, Marcus Paige drops career-high
Buzz City Beat is Swarm and Sting’s one stop for the latest news and stories from around the web about the Charlotte Hornets.
After an off-day, the Queen City team’s playoff odds fell from 2% to just 1% as their chance of making the postseason remain a longshot. (FiveThirtyEight.com) In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we preview the Charlotte Hornets‘ game against the New York Knicks while also looking at Marcus Paige‘s career night and Mitch Kupchak not yet meeting with the team.
Hornets @ Knicks prediction (SportsChatPlace.com)
"Neither team has much to play for at this stage of the season. The Hornets haven’t exactly been setting the world on fire with their play but at least they looked good in their win over the Hawks. I think that trend continues as the Hornets pull away late for the win."
Charlotte’s looking to build off of their win over Atlanta and keep their bleak playoff hopes alive. New York has lost nine straight and 17 of their last 18 games as they are in full on tank mode after Kristaps Porzingis suffered a season-ending injury. The Hornets are 4-6 in their last 10 games and are 2-1 after suffering a five-game losing streak.
Steve Clifford’s side has struggled away from home this season with only an 11-22 road record. This is a game in which Charlotte should be victorious in. The pick is for the Hornets to win comfortably. Final: Hornets 110. Knicks 98.
Marcus Paige drops a career-high in loss (Twitter/ @GreensboroSwarm)
"FINAL | #Swarm 122, #Sevens 124. The Swarm fall to @Sevens in a high-scoring battle at home, 124-122. Marcus Paige and Cat Barber each scored 33 PTS, while Cole Huff provided a spark off the bench with 15 PTS/11 REBS."
Greensboro’s backcourt duo of Marcus Paige and Cat Barber combined to score 66 points and it still wasn’t enough to lead the Swarm past the Delaware 87ers. The Sevens were led by former Charlotte Hornets’ big man Christian Wood who put up a double-double with 28 points and 10 rebounds. The Swarm have now lost two straight and three of their last four games in total.
With only four games left in the G-League season and Greensboro well outside of the playoff picture, there aren’t many positives but one of the Hornets’ two-way players scoring a career-high is pretty impressive. Marcus Paige in March is just a different player. If he has a strong finish to the G-League season, Charlotte may call him up to close out the NBA season and potentially give him a few minutes.
Mitch Kupchak hasn’t talked to Charlotte (CharlotteObserver.com)
"If former Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak is truly a candidate to become the next Charlotte Hornets general manager, there has been no traction to date. Asked after the game if he has had any conversations with the Hornets, Kupchak said he had not. “Nope. Nope,” he told the Observer. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”"
Next: Kanter thinks Hernangome can be as good as Gasol
In an interesting turn of events, the supposed front-runner for the Hornets’ vacant GM job hasn’t yet spoken to the team about the position. While Mitch could still meet with them later, this could also mean that Charlotte’s going in a different direction and aren’t looking at Kupchak as a candidate. Although, the fact that he is in Charlotte could mean that a meeting is coming in the near future. If nothing else, this has thrown a tiny wrinkle into the Hornets’ GM search.