The Hornets came up just agonizingly short in a wild 134-132 double-overtime loss at the Barclays Center two nights ago, but will get another shot at the Nets tonight, which begins at 7 p.m. ET in Charlotte.
One particular area that troubled the team in Brooklyn was second-chance points. The Nets held a 21-11 advantage in this category, going 7-of-9 from the field on such shots. Head Coach James Borrego also went with some smaller rotations in the second half and overtime of this game, which expectedly resulted in a 34-26 rebounding differential.
Having shot just 23.1 percent over his last three outings (6-of-26), the Hornets will hope to see a bit more of Tony Parker’s attempts fall in round two against the Nets. Still though, the Frenchman is one of just seven NBA players averaging 9.0 points and 4.0 assists off the bench and could also be in line for some history as he needs five dimes to pass Bob Cousy for 17th place on the league’s all-time leaderboard (6,955).
The Hornets will have another long night if Nets reserve guard Spencer Dinwiddie puts up another line like he did on Wednesday evening. The fifth-year veteran had 37 points (career-best 7-of-16 from three) and 11 assists off the bench and has emphatically asserted himself as one of the frontrunners for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award.
It won’t solely be Parker’s responsibility to guard the tricky Dinwiddie as any number of players could be matched up with him. The Colorado product averages 29.2 minutes a contest, so with plenty of on-court time in store, look for the Hornets to be quite busy trying to prevent an explosive encore showing.
Game Note – Willy Hernangómez has back-to-back games off the bench with at least 10 rebounds, making him the first Charlotte player to accomplish this feat since Tyrus Thomas did so from March 1-3, 2010. The most recent such three-game stretch was Nazr Mohammed from Jan. 9-12, 2008.
Classic Fact – Vlade Divac tallied a franchise-record 12 blocks in a 113-110 home win over the New Jersey Nets on Feb. 12, 1997. Since this performance, only four other NBA players have managed to reach 12 blocks in a regular season game (Shawn Bradley, Keon Clark, JaVale McGee and Hassan Whiteside).