Charlotte Hornets look to win consecutive games as they host Indy

Can the Charlotte Hornets put together consecutive wins and defeat the Indiana Pacers when they come to town on Wednesday night?

To achieve success in any sport, you have to win multiple games in a row. Winning every other game just isn’t going to cut it. This is something that has mostly eluded the Charlotte Hornets (8-8) this year. As you can tell by their record, stringing together consecutive wins hasn’t been easy for them thus far. Still, it’s relatively early in the season and there’s still time to get a winning streak going.

Speaking of winning streaks, the Indiana Pacers (11-6) are on a bit of their own, having won three in a row. Something to note about their record, however, is that eight of their wins are over teams. at .500 or below. You’d expect that from a team like the Pacers, but they’ve struggled against the more powerful teams in the league like the Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks, and Philadelphia 76ers.

Charlotte’s last game was a 117-112 win over the Boston Celtics. They are currently 8th in the East. The Pacers’ last game was a 121-94 victory over the Utah Jazz. They are third in the Eastern Conference. This is the first of three match-ups they will have this season.

Charlotte Hornets vs. Indiana Pacers
7:00 p.m. EST, Wednesday, November 21st, 2018
Spectrum Center
Fox Sports Southeast

Injury Report:

CHA:

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – Ankle (Out)

Willy Hernangomez – Ankle (Questionable)

IND:

Victor Oladipo – Knee (Questionable)

Myles Turner – Ankle (Questionable)

Alize Johnson – Illness (Game-Time Decision)

Things to watch for:

Myles Turner and Victor Oladipo are key players for the Pacers, so if they can’t play, this could be very favorable for the Hornets. Then again, I said the same thing before the Hornets’ game against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Charlotte proceeded to get blown out.

That just shows the unpredictable nature of sports. If they can play, The Hornets will need to keep Oladipo in check given he averaged 29 points per game in three games against them last season.

Keys to the game:

Perimeter defense will need to be a focus for the Hornets in this game. The Pacers are 2nd in the NBA in three-point field goal percentage, making almost 39% from deep. While that sounds bad, keep in mind that they also rank 28th in three-point field goals attempted.

Interestingly enough, the Hornets rank 4th in the league in opponent three-point field goal percentage, holding opposing teams to just 33% from three. We’ll see how much that is tested in this game.

The Pacers are in the bottom of the league in terms of rebounding, sitting at just 25th in the NBA in rebounds per game. Charlotte should look to crash the glass and limit second-chance points for Indiana.

These two teams have split their season series for the past two seasons. Charlotte is better than their record shows, so they have a real chance to win this game, but they’ll have to defend the three, avoid letting the Pacers have open looks, and making sure they limit their rebounding. This should be a fun one Wednesday night in the Spectrum Center.