Game Preview: Charlotte Hornets seek to win season serious over Dallas Mavericks

Hoping to win the season series, the Charlotte Hornets will take on the Dallas Mavericks for the second time this season.

For the second time this season, the Charlotte Hornets will take on the Dallas Mavericks at home, after beating them on the road in early January. The Mavericks are on a two-game losing streak and are fighting injuries.

In the last matchup between these two teams, the Hornets had to overcome a small deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime. In the end, the Hornets would come out with a 123-120 victory.

Since the last matchup, the Hornets have only won one game and are currently on a four-game losing streak. The Hornets’ last game resulted in a 125-110 loss to the Houston Rockets, while the Mavericks’ last game resulted in a 119-118 loss to the Washington Wizards.

Charlotte Hornets vs Dallas Mavericks
7:00 p.m. EST, Saturday, February 8th, 2020
Spectrum Center
Fox Sports Southeast

Stream: Fubo.tv

CHA:

Cody Martin – Nose (Out)

DAL:

Luka Doncic – Ankle (Out)

Dwight Powell – Achilles (Out)

Kristaps Porzingis – Nose (Questionable)

Things to watch for:

The main thing to watch will be how the Mavericks play in this one without Luka Doncic. In the last game against the Hornets, Doncic scored 39 points and was the main reason why the Mavericks almost won that game. The Mavericks are 4-5 when Doncic does not play.

Kristaps Porzingis is still dealing with a broken nose, and he saw limited playing time on Friday night. In the loss to the Wizards, he only finished with 11 points and 21 minutes of court time.

The Hornets were not able to take advantage of injuries in their previous loss to the Rockets, but they may have a stronger chance against the Mavericks.

Keys to the game:

Just like every game, the key to this game is rebounding and paint defense. The main reason why the Hornets won in the last game against Dallas was because of their rebounding; the Hornets outrebounded the Mavericks 56-45.

The Hornets must also be able to play good defense on the perimeter against the Mavericks. In the last matchup, the Mavericks finished the game 15-50 from behind the arc. While all of those misses were great, the Hornets should limit their three-point attempts.

This game is winnable for this struggling Hornets team, but it will all depend on if they can play as well as they did in the first matchup. However, a loss could cause the Hornets to move to the 13th spot in the Eastern Conference.