Charlotte Hornets vs. Indiana Pacers preseason preview

The Charlotte Hornets are back in action tonight as they welcome the Indiana Pacers to the Spectrum Center for a preseason tilt. Tipoff from Uptown is scheduled for 7:00 PM.

The contest will mark Charlotte’s preseason home opener after they began preseason play with a road tilt against the Boston Celtics. Meanwhile, Indiana will be making their preseason debut.

For the Hornets, Gordon Hayward and Cody Martin remain doubtful.

The Pacers will be without the newly acquired Daniel Theis, who joined Indiana in a deal that sent point guard Malcolm Brogdon to the Celtics.

What Charlotte Hornets fans should watch for:

Can the Hornets make their shots?

Scoring is the name of the game in basketball. As simple as it may sound, the team that shoots better, particularly from three-point range, finds a way to emerge victorious more often than not in the NBA. This trend reared its ugly head on Sunday afternoon in Boston and needs to be corrected quickly.

Despite Charlotte’s advantage over Boston in field goal attempts (101 to 84), free throw attempts (28 to 20), steals (13 to 4), and turnovers (19 to 29), the Celtics cruised to a victory due to the glaring discrepancy in shooting efficiency. The Hornets struggled mightily from three-point range, shooting an abysmal 15.4% from beyond the arc compared to a scintillating 46.8% for the Celtics. The Hornets were also outdone from the floor (34.7% to 57.1%) and from the free throw line (64.3% to 80.0%).

Can James Bouknight and Mark Williams step up?

James Bouknight struggled on Sunday afternoon. Ditto for Mark Williams. While the ultimate fate of the 2022-23 Charlotte Hornets may not lie on the shoulders of Bouknight and Williams, their development is crucial for the long-term goals of the franchise.

Bouknight quite simply must be better than he was against the Celtics, as his two points on 1/9 shooting in 20 minutes left much to be desired. Williams, meanwhile, was not able to make much headway in his 11 minutes on the floor, registering two points and two rebounds.

Perhaps Bouknight’s struggles can be attributed to the fact that he spent much of this offseason recovering from surgery on his shooting hand. Perhaps Williams’ struggles can be attributed to the fact that he was playing in his first professional basketball game. With that said, both players are likely to begin the season as the third option at their respective positions, with Bouknight behind Terry Rozier and Cody Martin and Williams behind Mason Plumlee and Nick Richards. While both will have the opportunity to move up the depth chart as the year goes on, it will require better performances than either had on Sunday afternoon.

What’s next for the Charlotte Hornets?

The Charlotte Hornets will make the short trip up I-85 for a contest against the Celtics in Greensboro, North Carolina on Friday evening. The Hornets will then head home for a tilt with the Washington Wizards before closing out the preseason on the road against the Philadelphia 76ers.