Charlotte Hornets travel to Toronto to battle the Raptors

After a gutsy win over Boston at home, the Charlotte Hornets now immediately hit the road to face the tough Toronto Raptors.

Well, that was fun, wasn’t it? After being down as much as 18 points, the Charlotte Hornets (33-39) came back to win a crucial game against the Boston Celtics.

Those kinds of games are seemingly rare for the Hornets this season as they usually would have floundered down the stretch, but thanks to your captain, Kemba Walker, the team was able to make the comeback.

Boston did take their foot off the gas a bit early, as well, but Kemba was easily the catalyst for Charlotte down the stretch.

Next up is an immediate road game against the formidable Toronto Raptors (51-22).  It’s been a while since these two teams played each other, with their last contest taking place way back on October 22nd.

The Raptors won that one in Toronto easily, with the final being 127-106. Here’s hoping that doesn’t happen again.

As mentioned before, Charlotte’s last game was a 124-117 victory over the Boston Celtics. They are 10th in the Eastern Conference. Toronto’s last outing was a 109-116 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. They are 2nd in the East. This is the second of three match-ups against the Raptors.

Charlotte Hornets at Toronto Raptors
6:00 p.m. EST, Sunday, March 24th, 2019
Scotiabank Arena
Fox Sports Southeast

Stream: Fubo.tv

Injury Report:

CHA:

Nicolas Batum – Illness (Questionable)

Cody Zeller – Knee  (Questionable)

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – Concussion  (Questionable)

TOR:

Kyle Lowry – Ankle  (Questionable)

Things to watch for:

For the already undermanned Hornets, fatigue could be an issue since this is the second of yet another back-to-back. In fact, Charlotte is only 4-9 in the second games of back-to-back scenarios this season, so history doesn’t really seem to be on their side in that regard, but you never know.

In the first meeting, Charlotte allowed Toronto to shoot 58% from the floor, including 38% from deep. I’m sure Charlotte wouldn’t want that outcome to be repeated.

Keys to the game:

Most Hornets fans know that they’re usually disciplined when it comes to fouls. They’ll definitely need to be in this one as Toronto makes 80% of their free throws, good for 5th in the NBA. Charlotte isn’t too far behind them at the 7th spot, but if the Raptors get some “home cooking,” they could do some damage at the line.

Charlotte would also do well to make sure they take good shots. Toronto rank 7th in the league in opponent field goal percentage, allowing teams to shoot just a hair over 45%.

They held the Hornets to a mere 42% in the game earlier in the year, so running quality screens to get shooters open and taking high percentage shots near the basket will be a must.

Emotions are certainly riding high after that thrilling win in Charlotte. Can they take that momentum on the road and steal one from the Raptors? We’ll find out Sunday evening in Toronto.