Charlotte Hornets face off against the Philadelphia 76ers

The Charlotte Hornets are winless so far in the preseason. Can they notch their first victory against the intimidating Philadelphia 76ers?

We’re just about halfway through the NBA preseason, and the Charlotte Hornets (0-2) haven’t exactly thrilled anyone with their play. Granted, it’s the preseason, and much of that is predicated upon trying out different lineups, testing out younger guys, and seeing what new talent you can trot out onto the floor.

The Hornets have done just that and while it has not resulted in any wins, it has given Coach James Borrego some interesting insight, especially on his newly drafted players. Still, it’s not like they don’t want to win and hopefully, they can achieve that against a pesky Philadelphia 76ers (1-0) squad. This might prove to be quite the task, however, as the 76ers have defeated the Hornets 10 straight times in the regular season, dating back to January of 2017.

It’s still the preseason, though, and with teams experimenting with their lineups and resting star players in anticipation for the regular season, anything is possible. A win over a top contender, even at this stage, would be a nice morale boost for the younger guys looking to gain inspiration going into the start of the season.

Charlotte’s last game was a 94-108 loss to the Miami Heat. They are tied for last in the Eastern Conference so far in the preseason. Philadelphia’s last outing was a 144-86 beatdown of the Guangzhou Long-Lions, a member of the Chinese Basketball Association. Philly is 6th in the East.

Charlotte Hornets vs Philadephia 76ers
7:30 p.m. EST, Friday, October 11th, 2019
Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Fox Sports Southeast

Injury Report:

CHA:

Cody Martin – Ankle (Doubtful)

Nic Batum – Achilles (Out)

PHI:

None

Things to watch for:

This will be an interesting one as it’s on a somewhat neutral court. Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum is where the Wake Forest Demon Deacons play their home basketball games, so even though the game is not in Charlotte, there should be a decent contingent of Hornets fans, or so one hopes.

Even though the game doesn’t technically count, returning Hornets players sure would love to stick it to the 76ers, who again, have dominated Charlotte over the past two years. No one wants to lose, regardless of whether it actually counts, so perhaps the Hornets can exact some measure of revenge in this one.

Keys to the game:

Philly has played just one game and it wasn’t even against an NBA team, so there’s not much you can glean from that. Yes, they thrashed that team and expectedly so, but that’s about the smallest sample size you can get.

One thing Charlotte won’t have to factor for is J.J. Reddick, who has been a thorn in the Hornets’ side for years. He has since departed to New Orleans, but the 76ers did nab Al Horford, making Philly’s frontcourt quite imposing. Between Horford, Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, and Ben Simmons, the 76ers have quite a core.

Expect the Hornets to try and space Philly’s frontcourt out to try and mitigate what they can do down low. If they can make them take contested mid-range shots, as opposed to shots at the rim, Charlotte might have a shot at this.

With Reddick gone, it would seem that the three wouldn’t be as much of an issue as it was in previous seasons, and with the 76ers shooting just 37% from deep against Guangzhou, that might just be the case. If Charlotte can force them to take bad shots from behind the arc, then that would be another key to victory.

The Charlotte Hornets are quite the mystery at the moment, with many questions surrounding the team. As the regular season approaches, we’re finding more and more about the identity of this group. Can they compete with the top teams in the East? We’ll get a glimpse of that Friday night in Winston-Salem.