Game Preview: Charlotte Hornets seek fourth straight win vs Brooklyn Nets
The Charlotte Hornets are currently riding a three-game winning streak, and the team could possibly stretch it to four on Saturday night.
Coming out of the All-Star break, the Charlotte Hornets (19-36) are now on a three-game winning streak. The team heads home to take on the Brooklyn Nets (25-29) for the last time this season.
In the first three matchups against the Nets, the Hornets lost the first two and won the most recent game. In the game that Charlotte won, the Hornets overcame a huge deficit, and Devonte’ Graham had a career-high night.
Heading into this game, the Hornets’ recent game was a 103-93 win against the Chicago Bulls. However, the Nets’ most recent game was a 112-104 overtime loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Charlotte Hornets vs Brooklyn Nets
7:00 p.m. EST, Saturday, February 22nd, 2020
Spectrum Center
Fox Sports Southeast
Stream: Fubo.tv
Injury Report:
CHA:
None
BKN:
Kyrie Irving – Shoulder (Out)
Kevin Durant – Achilles (Out)
Things to watch for:
Injuries could assist the Hornets in this one, but the Nets have been without Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant every game that they played the Hornets this season. The Hornets are technically playing the same team that they played in the first three matchups.
Graham scored 40 points in the last matchup and led the Hornets in an epic comeback victory on the road. After Graham went scoreless in the Hornets’ previous game, watch for Graham to crank up his game at home.
Keys of the game:
A major key in this game will be to own the paint early. The Nets have two great bigs, and the Hornets cannot allow Jarret Allen and DeAndre Jordan to dominate them in the paint. So far this season, Both Allen and Jordan have averaged over 13+ points and 11+ rebounds per game against the Hornets.
Guarding the paint is a weakness for the Hornets, but restricting what the Nets’ two centers can do will help a lot. Expect Coach James Borrego to give Bismack Biyombo some more minutes off the bench to assist with defense.
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A win in this game will not change where the Hornets are in the Eastern Conference standings, but it would move them to within five games of the eighth seed. It will be exciting to see if the Hornets can go on the first four-game winning streak of the season.