Charlotte Hornets look to sweep season series over Golden State Warriors

The Charlotte Hornets have a chance to do something they haven’t done in a long while. Can they sweep the season series against the Golden State Warriors?

The last time the Charlotte Hornets (8-14) went undefeated against the Golden State Warriors (4-18) in a season, the number one movie in America was Ride Along. The number one song was Pitbull and Kesha’s “Timber.” The Hornets were not even the Hornets. They were the Bobcats.

So yes, it has been quite a while since they’ve accomplished such a feat. The Warriors find themselves in a very unfamiliar situation, though. They are not only dead last in their conference, but they also have the worst record in the league. Fans are well aware of this and realize that it is mostly due to injuries to nearly half the roster.

That leads to the Hornets doing something that has eluded them over the past handful of years. No Steph Curry. No Klay Thompson. And of course, no Kevin Durant, who is not only injured as well but isn’t even on the team any longer. So, there isn’t a better time to take this team on.

Charlotte’s last game was a 109-104 loss to the Phoenix Suns. They are currently 9th in the Eastern Conference. Golden State’s last outing was a 104-79 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. As stated before, they are last in the West. This is the final matchup between these two teams.

Charlotte Hornets vs Golden State Warriors
7:00 p.m. EST, Wednesday, December 4th, 2019
Spectrum Center
Fox Sports Southeast

Stream: Fubo.tv

Injury Report:

CHA:

Nicolas Batum – Hand (Probable)

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – Calf (Questionable)

GSW:

D’Angelo Russell – Thumb (Questionable)

Jacob Evans – Hip (Questionable)

Damion Lee – Hand (Questionable)

Draymond Green – Rest (Questionable)

Steph Curry – Hand (Out)

Klay Thompson – Knee (Out)

Things to watch for:

As you can see, the Warriors are plagued with injuries, and it was much of the reason why the Hornets beat them on the road. Barring some weird catastrophic turn of events, you have to expect the Hornets to come away with a win, but the Hornets are nothing if not inconsistent.

With the usual cast sitting out this season, the Warriors’ leading offensive force has been a second-round draft pick, Eric Paschall. The 6’6″ forward out of Villanova is averaging a respectable 17 points and 5 rebounds per game on 50% shooting. Charlotte has had issues defending the interior, so that could be an issue.

Keys to the game:

Normally, this would be a borderline automatic win for the Warriors, but that’s not the case. If the Hornets decide to play down to their competition, which they’ve done several times this year, then an upset might be on the menu. Charlotte would do well to put this game away early, eliminating any doubt.

This one could be a bit ugly as both of these teams are in the bottom six in terms of points per game, with both scoring just about 105 a game. They’re both also in the bottom six in regards to opponent field goal percentage, so something’s got to give, I suppose. Hornets need to make sure to keep Golden State indicative of their record.

Charlotte almost came back from a 20 point deficit in their last game, only to fizzle out at the end. That was a game they should have won. So is this one, but they can ill-afford to let this slip from their fingers. Here’s hoping they can make it two in a row over the hapless Warriors.