The Charlotte Hornets continue their West Coast road trip against the Phoenix Suns.
All losses are bad, but several of the Charlotte Hornets‘ (15-26) losses this season have been terrible. That was the case in their last game as the Utah Jazz thoroughly dismantled them and thus, swept the season series for the second straight season.
Alas, the season must go on and losing the next one would see them being swept by another Western Conference team, the Phoenix Suns (15-23). They’ve obviously played once this year and that was in Charlotte back at the beginning of December. The Hornets lost that game 109-104. They fell behind mainly due to a 39 point first half but nearly came back with a strong second that saw them outscore the Suns by 15.
If the Hornets do get swept, it will be the first time the Suns have done that since the 2013-2014 season, when the Hornets were the Bobcats. That wouldn’t be a good thing, obviously, so Charlotte would certainly like to win this one, even if it’s only just to end their current losing streak.
As touched on before, Charlotte’s last game was a 109-92 road loss to the Utah Jazz. They are once again in the 9th spot in the Eastern Conference. The Suns’ last contest was a 98-94 win over the Orlando Magic. They are 11th in the West. This is the final meeting between these two squads.
Charlotte Hornets at Phoenix Suns
8:00 p.m. EST, Sunday, January 12th, 2020
Talking Stick Resort Arena
Fox Sports Southeast
Stream: Fubo.tv
Injury Report:
CHA:
None
PHO:
Frank Kaminsky – Knee (Out)
Things to watch for:
Sadly, the Hornets won’t get to play against their former first-round pick as he is on the mend at this time. It’s always fun seeing former Hornets compete against them. At least Charlotte is injury-free and on the road, they’ll need their full complement of players.
Since the new year, Terry Rozier is averaging a tad over 27 points a game. He’s been the main source of offense for the Hornets, but the team only has two wins over that five-game stretch. The team will need someone else to step up and give him some help.
Keys to the game:
Phoenix leads the league in assists per game. That would be one reason why they’re the 7th highest-scoring team in the NBA. In the first game back in Charlotte, they had 30 assists, but Charlotte had 27 of their own, so hopefully, they can keep up in that department again. Of course, it would be a good idea to keep the Suns’ offense in check if they can, so try and avoid letting guys make clean passes to open shooters.
The Suns’ opponents shoot at the 5th highest clip in the league, but of course, Charlotte is two spots behind them in that category. They actually shot better than the Suns in the previous game, so let’s hope that can continue. If the Hornets’ sometimes lackadaisical defense can play a full four quarters, they’ll have a shot.
Even with their equally woeful record, the Suns proved they can beat the Hornets. If Charlotte wants to steal one on the road, they’ll need to keep the Suns’ offense to a modest shooting night. Here’s hoping they can leave Phoenix with a much-needed victory.