Charlotte Hornets seek three straight as they host Detroit

After three straight losses, the Charlotte Hornets are now seeking their third straight win as they go up against the Detroit Pistons tonight.

Less than a week ago, the Charlotte Hornets (13-13) looked to be faltering, losing three in a row. Now, after winning two straight, the team has evened their record and with five straight home games coming up, they look to be in a position to move up the standings.

Two of those five home games will be against the Detroit Pistons (13-12). If you remember, Charlotte defeated the Pistons in Detroit, 113-103, earlier this season. That win helped them get over .500. Could it happen again? I don’t see why not given the Pistons are riding in on a five-game losing streak. Catching them in a funk could be just what the Hornets need to climb the rankings.

Charlotte’s last game was a 119-107 road win over the New York Knicks. They are 7th in the Eastern Conference. Detroit’s last contest was a 102-116 road loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. They are half a game above the Hornets, sitting at 6th in the East. This is the second of four match-ups against the Pistons.

Charlotte Hornets vs Detroit Pistons
7:00 p.m. EST, Wednesday, December 12th, 2018
Spectrum Center
Fox Sports Southeast

Injury Report:

CHA:

None

DET:

Reggie Bullock – Ankle (Doubtful)

Glenn Robinson III – Ankle (Out)

Stanley Johnson – Knee (Probable)

Ish Smith – Groin (Out)

Things to watch for:

Something about playing the Hornets gets Blake Griffin heated. In their last game, Griffin was ejected for a flagrant two foul on Hornets guard Malik Monk.

Additionally, Blake was called for a technical in a game against the Hornets last year as well. Will cooler heads prevail, or will his anger get the best of him yet again? Outside of his ejection, Blake was held in check by the Hornets, scoring only 10 points on 4-16 shooting.

Andre Drummond, though, had a field day, snagging 22 rebounds alongside scoring 23 points. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen again.

Keys to the game:

As mentioned before, Charlotte did a great job of mitigating Blake Griffin. If they can do it again, that would certainly help their cause. Detroit ranks dead last in the NBA in field goal percentage. To go along with that, they also are 28th in the league in three-point field goal percentage.

Charlotte needs to make sure that trend continues by playing physical defense and not getting beaten on screen and roll situations. Something that would also benefit the Hornets is getting to the free-throw line and they should have a fairly easy time doing so.

The Pistons give up the 4th most fouls in the NBA, committing 23.5 a game. This bodes well for the guys in purple and teal as they shoot a high percentage from the line, shooting 80%, good enough for 7th best in the Association.

The Hornets have shown they can outplay the Pistons. With sound defense and an emphasis on getting to the charity stripe, they can repeat that success. We’ll see if they can get it done Wednesday night in the Queen City.