The Charlotte Hornets have two games remaining, and they still have a shot at the postseason. They’ll need to win out and have a little help from some other teams to make it. This all includes a road game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Barely over a week ago, the Charlotte Hornets (38-42) had a 4% chance of making the playoffs, according to ESPN’s playoff odds tracker. Currently, it’s back up to 23%. That’s quite the improvement for a team that looked to be in freefall mode. There is still work to be done, however, and a lot of it is out of the Hornets’ hands.
At this point, it’s too late to be tanking. If you lose the last two, that’s not going to help you much in terms of draft positioning, so they might as well go all-out and try and actually make the postseason. That would, at the very least, provide some playoff experience for our younger guys.
In any case, the Hornets will be facing the Cleveland Cavaliers (19-62) in their penultimate game. One might assume this one is in the bag, but if you’ll remember, Cleveland gave Charlotte one of their worst losses of the season, defeating the Hornets 113-89 in Cleveland back on November 13th.
Even more worrisome is the fact that the Cavs have lost nine straight games and would surely love to snap that streak. Sure, the Cavs have little to play for and would probably be better served by losing this game, but it is the final game of their season, and they may be playing for pride at this point.
Charlotte’s last contest was a 104-91 win over the Detroit Pistons. They are 9th in the Eastern Conference. The Cavs’ last game was a 90-112 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. They are 15th in the East. This is the final time these two teams will meet.
Charlotte Hornets at Cleveland Cavaliers
7:00 p.m. EST, Tuesday, April 9th, 2019
Quicken Loans Arena
Fox Sports Southeast
Stream: Fubo.tv
Injury Report:
CHA:
Cody Zeller – Knee (Out)
Marvin Williams – Foot (Doubtful)
CLE:
Matthew Dellavedova – Concussion (Game-Time Decision)
Nik Stauskas – Back (Game-Time Decision)
John Henson – Wrist (Game-Time Decision)
Things to watch for:
Although not listed on the injury report, the Hornets will be without the services of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. He will be out due to personal reasons. Charlotte really could use his presence on defense.
Kemba Walker has been averaging roughly 35 points per game over his past four games. This is the right time for the captain to get hot and Charlotte will definitely need him to keep up this pace. Here’s hoping he goes off yet again.
Keys to the game:
One might look at the Cavs and think they’re not very good at much, but surprisingly enough, they’re not bad from behind the arc. They make nearly 36% of their threes, good enough for 13th in the league.
That doesn’t sound all that intimidating, but most fans know that Charlotte can have stretches where teams torch them from deep. As always, keep a hand in the shooters’ faces, avoid leaving shooters open, and don’t let them set good ball screens on the perimeter.
Charlotte should look for opportunities from behind the arc as well, as Cleveland allows the highest shooting percentage from three in the NBA. That could help a Hornets squad that is just 21st in the league in three-point shooting. Run efficient screens and try to get the Cavs to over-commit in the paint, leading to open looks.
There is a renewed optimism in the Queen City, but the Hornets need a lot of things to happen, including winning this one. We’ll see if they can do just that Tuesday night in Cleveland.