Charlotte Hornets are off to Brooklyn to square off with the Nets

After getting a huge win over the Washington Wizards, the Charlotte Hornets immediately travel to Brooklyn to face the Nets in the second of a back-to-back.

Well, here’s yet another back-to-back for the Charlotte Hornets (10-16). They’ve already taken care of business in the first game, and in the second, they’ll face a very familiar foe in the Brooklyn Nets (13-10). If any Hornets fans are sick of seeing the Nets so far, no worries. The next time they face them doesn’t come until late February.

The Hornets have yet to defeat the Nets thus far and in those two losses, have not looked very good. They haven’t been terrible, but their average shooting percentage in those two games is 40%. Again, not the worst, but not ideal. Much of their struggles against Brooklyn this year have been in the fourth quarter, but that’s a trend against other teams as well.

Charlotte’s last game was a 114-107 win over the Washington Wizards. They are 10th in the Eastern Conference. Brooklyn’s last contest was a 105-102 victory over the Denver Nuggets. They are 7th in the East. This is the third of four meetings.

Charlotte Hornets at Brooklyn Nets
7:30 p.m. EST, Wednesday, December 11th, 2019
Barclays Center
Fox Sports Southeast

Stream: Fubo.tv

Injury Report:

CHA:

Nicolas Batum – Hand (Questionable)

Marvin Williams – Knee (Questionable)

BKN:

Nicolas Claxton – Hamstring (Out)

Kevin Durant – Achilles (Out)

Kyrie Irving – Shoulder (Out)

Caris LeVert – Thumb (Out)

Iman Shumpert – Knee (Doubtful)

Things to watch for:

There are even more injuries than these two teams faced off last time. It didn’t help the Hornets last time and probably won’t this time as the Nets seem to have their number so far this year. You never know, though, and Charlotte could steal one.

The last time the Hornets had more than one day off was November 10th. Since then, they’ve had three back-to-backs, with Charlotte winning just one of the second games. Fatigue will most definitely be a factor, so perhaps more of the role players will get some time.

Keys to the game:

I mentioned Charlotte’s fourth-quarter troubles earlier and they’ve definitely had them against Brooklyn, averaging 19.5 points in the fourth in their two games facing the Nets. You’d be right in thinking that Brooklyn is proficient on the defensive end, where they rank 10th in the league in opponent field goal percentage.

The funny part is, if you sort by just the fourth quarter, that goes down all the way down to 23rd in the NBA. Clearly, it’s more of an issue with the Hornets, but most fans are well aware. Just try and play a complete game.

The Nets have dominated in the paint in this series so far, tallying 96 points in the inside compared to Charlotte’s meager 68. That will need to change if the Hornets want to compete in this game. Have the guards attack the basket and have the bigs go to work down low.

The Nets have won three in a row and will surely look to make it four straight. It’ll be a hostile environment, for sure, but if Charlotte can mitigate what the Nets do inside and play a full game, they have a shot. We’ll see if they can leave The Empire State with a win Wednesday night in the Barclays Center.