Charlotte Hornets seek second-straight win over the Detroit Pistons
Amidst a five-game losing streak, the Charlotte Hornets will face the Detroit Pistons in two consecutive games.
Frustrations abound for the Charlotte Hornets (6-12). They’ve lost five straight, which is currently the longest losing streak in the league. Because of that, they are hurtling to the bottom of the Eastern Conference and show no signs of correcting course.
Much of this is due to continued poor defense, which most knew would be an issue with a team so reliant on young talent. That doesn’t mean it’s still not disappointing, but much wasn’t expected of this group by most fans. It’s a process, for sure, but it can be ugly at times.
There might be good news on the horizon, however, as a similarly struggling opponent heads into town to face the Hornets. That would be the Detroit Pistons (6-11), who are just half a game ahead of the Hornets in the standings. Charlotte has already faced Detroit this season, winning that game 109-106 at home back on November 15th.
The Hornets’ last game was a 117-100 defeat at the hands of the Miami Heat. The Hornets are tied for 11th in the Eastern Conference. Detroit’s last contest was a 103-88 win over the Orlando Magic. The Pistons are 10th in the East. This is the second of four matchups against the Pistons.
Charlotte Hornets vs Detroit Pistons
7:00 p.m. EST, Wednesday, November 27th, 2019
Spectrum Center
Fox Sports Southeast
Injury Report:
CHA:
Cody Zeller – Hip (Probable)
Malik Monk – Finger (Probable)
DET:
Tony Snell – Hip (Questionable)
Khyri Thomas – Foot (Out)
Reggie Jackson – Back (Out)
Things to watch for:
As stated in the headline, this will be the first of two straight games against Detroit. This one is obviously at home, and the next is in Detroit. This won’t be the only time they face the same team in consecutive games as they will face the Atlanta Hawks twice in a row later in the season.
Their last win over the Pistons extends their current win streak against them to 7 games. It sure would be nice to make it 8, but Detroit is likely aware of this as well, and with their own set of struggles keeping them down, revenge is the number one thing on their minds.
Keys to the game:
Surprisingly, the Hornets had the advantage in the interior in their last game against the Pistons, scoring 14 more points in the paint than Detroit. That could prove to be an outlier as the Hornets do rank dead last in opponent points in the paint, allowing just under 53 points down low. Perhaps they can achieve that again, but they absolutely must try and limit what Detroit can do in the interior because they still barely won that game.
They also outrebounded the Pistons, which again, is odd because they also rank dead last in rebounds per game. That’s not a good combination to have and will not win you many games. So, as always, box out and keep them off the glass as much as you can.
Next. A trade for Mo Bamba would help on many levels. dark
Charlotte has shown they can keep up with Detroit and come out with a win, and they’ll get two more chances to show that in the next three days. They’ll need more than a last-second shot to do it, though. We’ll see if they can get it done Wednesday in Charlotte.