A third win in four outings is on the line for the Charlotte Hornets tonight as they close out their brief two-game homestand with a date against the Toronto Raptors starting at 7 PM EST at Spectrum Center.
Charlotte fell to the Indiana Pacers at home, 115-104, on Monday night, a loss largely attributed to getting outscored by 16 points in the third quarter (37-21). Following Tuesday’s practice, Head Coach James Borrego elaborated on his team’s strong start to the game that was quickly undone soon after halftime.
“I liked the first half,” he said. “I thought we came out with the right mentality. The ball was moving and our defense was solid. I thought we had presence on the ball, presence at the rim. Third quarter, coming off two wins and playing well in the first half, it looked to me like we relaxed. We just became casual, [Indiana] became aggressive. That just can’t happen for us.”
Toronto decisively took round one from the Hornets, 132-96, at home on Nov. 18, getting a career-high 24 points for OG Anunoby and another 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists from Pascal Siakam. Marvin Williams had 14 points and two blocks off the bench for a Charlotte squad that allowed a back-breaking 39 points off 20 giveaways.
The Raptors started the season 21-8, but injuries have caused them to go 3-4 over their last seven appearances. They rank 19th in the NBA in offensive rating (108.3), third in defensive rating (104.2) and 25th in pace (96.49) during this stretch. Kyle Lowry (22.7 PPG on 40.9 FG%), Fred VanVleet (19.1 PPG) and Serge Ibaka are all averaging at least 18.0 PPG and shooting 35.0+ from three-point range since Dec. 22.
Although the reigning NBA Champions are a bit short-handed at the moment, they’ve still been doing a lot of damage via points off turnovers (19.0; third in the NBA since Dec. 23) and in second-chance scoring (14.4 PPG; seventh in NBA). The Hornets will have to be very focused on the ball security and offensive rebounding fronts in order to split their two-game homestand.
Game Notes: Toronto will be playing the second game of a back-to-back set after hosting Portland on Tuesday night (2-3 on zero days rest this season)… Siakam (groin strain), VanVleet (right hamstring strain) and C Marc Gasol (left hamstring strain) did not play for Toronto last night. G Norman Powell (left shoulder subluxation) was listed as doubtful.