Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets vs New York Knicks prediction, Prospect review
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Dwight Howard became the first player since Dennis Rodman in 1997 to grab at least 50 rebounds in a two-game span. (Twitter/ @Jkubatko) In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we preview the Charlotte Hornets‘ game versus the New York Knicks while also reviewing the team’s young prospects and the Greensboro Swarm’s loss to the Windy City Bulls in their regular-season finale.
Hornets vs Knicks prediction (RealSport101.com)
"The Hornets are 11.5-point favorites and are looking to extend a trend of the home teams covering to five straight games. All this means is Charlotte likely will run right through the Knicks and record a 118-102 victory."
Charlotte’s on a three-game win streak and looking to finish their season on a positive note despite missing out on the playoffs this year. It looks like they are going to ignore tanking and battle it out in all of their remaining games. This will be the fourth and final meeting of the season between the Hornets and Knicks as Steve Clifford’s side looks to even up the season series at 2-2.
Dwight Howard and Kemba Walker have been dominant as of late. I expect for that to continue in this one even though New York blew out Charlotte a little over a week ago. The matchup to watch is at the point guard spot and if Trey Burke will be able to slow down Kemba. Nicolas Batum will be a game-time decision.
Young prospect season review (NateDuncanNBA.com)
"So we kind of deviated from the plan on this one. We started off thinking we’d a prospect review for all 15 teams in the East, but then realized that was WAY too much for one podcast. So we look at the youngs for Milwaukee, Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, Orlando, and Washington this season."
At the 45 minute mark, Nate Duncan, Danny Leroux and Liam Doyle broke down Charlotte’s young players this season in Malik Monk, Frank Kaminsky, Dwayne Bacon, Treveon Graham and Willy Hernangomez. For Monk, it was mostly negative and they pointed out how he’s been wildly inefficient, his poor shot selection and inability to successfully create in the pick-and-roll. They also said that he’s unlikely to be a starter in the NBA.
As for Kaminsky, they highlighted his poor shooting inside the arc and that he doesn’t offer much outside of a three-point shooter because of his lack of explosion on both sides of the ball. They stated that Bacon will have to completely change how he plays to carve out a long career. Graham is probably the Hornets’ prospect that they are highest on because of his improved shooting, defense and hustle play. Lastly, they said that Hernangomez needs more minutes going forward to figure out exactly what he can bring to the Hornets and that if he’s good enough, the team could move Cody Zeller this summer.
Greensboro falls to the Windy City Bulls (Gleague.NBA.com)
"The Windy City Bulls set a franchise-high for most wins in a season and beat the Greensboro Swarm 108-90. Alex Hamilton made his first start of the season with Windy City and posted his first career triple-double – 18 points, 11 rebounds and 16 assists."
In the Swarm’s final game of the 2017-18 regular season, Cat Barber was their leading scorer with 28 points to go along with 11 assists. Damien Wilkins finished on a high-note with a triple-double of 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
Next: Sam Hinkie would be perfect for Charlotte
Greensboro finished the season with a 16-34 record which is three wins less than they had last season and tied for the worst record in the entire G-League. Expect two-way players Marcus Paige and Mangok Mathiang to spend the rest of the NBA regular-season with the Charlotte Hornets.