Charlotte Hornets look to split season series against the Utah Jazz
After an embarrassing loss against the Golden State Warriors, the Charlotte Hornets now head to Utah to take on the Jazz.
Away games are never easy and away games against the defending NBA champions are really never easy. Sadly, the Charlotte Hornets (35-41) never really were competitive in their loss to the Golden State Warriors.
Blowouts happen, of course, but with their playoff hopes on life-support, the team really needed that win.
On to the next one, though, and it’ll be another tough one as they head to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Jazz (46-30). That’s the very same Jazz team that defeated the Hornets at home, 111-119 back on November 30th.
Charlotte didn’t do any favors for themselves in that, namely in the first quarter where they allowed the Jazz to score 33 points while only scoring 19 themselves.
As mentioned before, Charlotte’s last outing was a blowout 90-137 loss to the Golden State Warriors. They are currently cemented at the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference. Utah’s last game was a 128-124 win over the Washington Wizards. They are 5th in the West. This is the final match-up for these two teams.
Charlotte Hornets at Utah Jazz
9:00 p.m. EST, Monday, April 1st, 2019
Vivint Smart Home Arena
Fox Sports Southeast
Stream: Fubo.tv
Injury Report:
CHA:
Cody Zeller – Knee (Questionable)
UTA:
Derrick Favors – Back (Out)
Raul Neto – Head (Questionable)
Dante Exum – Knee (Out)
Things to watch for:
Once again, fatigue could play a part in this, given it’s the second in yet another back-to-back for Charlotte.
Add to that the fact that the last time Utah played was on Friday and it makes the task of winning this one even much harder. They still have one more back-to-back at the end of the season, as well.
In their last match-up, Charlotte allowed the Jazz to shoot over 54% from the field. The Hornets have been plagued by terrible defense at times this season. Here’s hoping they can tighten it up or this will be another tick in the loss column.
Keys to the game:
Avoid costly fouls. The Jazz attempt the 5th most free-throws per game. Fortunately for Charlotte, they also have the 5th lowest free-throw percentage, but every team can have outliers and against the Hornets, you kind of expect it at this point.
If they can play staunch defense without fouling, that might lead to some points off of turnovers, given that Utah coughs up the ball at the 6th highest clip in the NBA. The Hornets would do well to break up passing lanes and stay in front of their assignments.
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With six games left in the season, many fans have probably given up on the team. With another season likely not ending with a playoff appearance, it’s easy to feel defeated, but the team still needs support from the fans.
Keep your fingers crossed that they can leave SLC with a much-needed win.