Round two of the Charlotte Hornets’ four-game homestand takes place tonight as they look to hold serve at Spectrum Center against the San Antonio Spurs starting at 7 PM EST.
The Hornets are coming off a hard-fought 93-85 home loss to the NBA-leading Bucks on Sunday afternoon, becoming the first team in the NBA to hold Milwaukee to less than 100 points this season. Charlotte sits fourth in defensive rating since Feb. 10 (104.3; 5-3 record), an extremely impressive mark for a squad that ranked 28th (113.7) prior to this recent eight-game stretch.
“Coming out of the All-Star break, we had a couple keys – both of them being on the defensive end,” said Borrego after Sunday’s game. “We’re limiting teams right now in the paint and we’re swarming. Everything is challenged and difficult. We’re switching a lot more. This is probably the best defense we’ve played in the last two years. There is a pride about it right now.”
Charlotte led the Spurs by 19 early in the third on Feb. 1, but eventually got outscored by 37 points in the second half (64-27 differential) in what ended as a 114-90 road loss. Miles Bridges racked up a team-high 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting and Cody Zeller nearly triple-doubled with 14 points, 12 rebounds and a career-high eight assists. DeMar DeRozan had 24 points and Jakob Poeltl added another 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting for San Antonio in the win.
Since this victory though, the Spurs have lost seven of 10 outings, ranking 24th in offensive (117.3) and 27th in defensive rating (117.3). DeRozan (20.1 PPG), LaMarcus Aldridge (18.4), Dejounte Murray (12.0), Bryn Forbes (11.6), Patty Mills (10.7), Derrick White (10.6) and Trey Lyles (10.0) are all averaging double-figure points for an offensively-balanced San Antonio team across this stretch.
Despite their recent struggles, San Antonio has been the NBA’s second-best defensive rebounding team (77.5%) since Feb. 1, although oddly the worst offensive rebounding team (21.6%) at the same time. The Spurs also own the league’s lowest turnover percentage in this time frame (10.4%), so that swarming Hornets’ defense will need to continue to be physical and disruptive in order to create extra opportunities on the offensive end.
Game Notes: Spurs C Jakob Poeltl (right knee MCL sprain) is out for tonight’s game. F LaMarcus Aldridge (right shoulder soreness) has missed San Antonio’s last three games… San Antonio is 4-3 this season with zero days rest (played in Indiana on Monday evening)… The Hornets have not won consecutive home games against the Spurs since 1992-93. (beat San Antonio, 125-116, in Charlotte last year).