The second-to-last back-to-back of the season wraps up tonight for the Charlotte Hornets as they look to rectify some recent home woes against the New York Knicks starting at 7 PM EST at Spectrum Center.
Charlotte is coming off a 119-80 loss in Indiana last night, an outing highlighted by a 17-point showing from second-year forward Miles Bridges. The Hornets will need to shake off one of the rougher performances of the season rather quickly at Spectrum Center, where they’ve struggled an unusual amount as of late despite the presumably friendlier confines.
“For some reason, we can’t generate momentum here at home,” said Borrego after last Saturday’s 115-86 home loss to Brooklyn, the team’s ninth in 10 outings in Charlotte. “It is on me and our group to keep looking at ways to play with more spirit, more fight here at home. For whatever reason, it really has started on the offensive end. We have not shot the ball or scored the ball well here at home, especially in the first half. We have to correct that.”
Charlotte leads the season series with New York, 2-0, and won the most recent meeting, 97-92 at home on Jan. 28, a victory which ended an eight-game slide. Terry Rozier had 30 points and 10 rebounds for the hosts, who also got points-rebounds double-doubles from Cody Zeller and Willy Hernangómez. Julius Randle (24) and Marcus Morris Sr. (23) both crossed the 20-point plateau for the Knicks, who shot 28.1% from three and allowed 16 offensive rebounds.
The Knicks recently flipped Morris Sr. to the LA Clippers in a three-team deal at the trade deadline that sent Moe Harkless and a first-round pick back to the Big Apple. Randle is leading the team in scoring (19.8 PPG on 46.5% shooting) and rebounding (10.8 RPG) since then, with Elfrid Payton (14.0 PPG and team-high 8.0 APG) and Mitchell Robinson (9.5 PPG on 81.3% shooting, 7.3 RPG and 2.8 BPG off the bench) also serving as consistent contributors.
New York is riding a four-game losing streak after winning a season-best four straight games from Feb. 1-8. Two things that the Knicks do well though are rim protection (43.5 PPG allowed in paint, fourth fewest in the NBA) and rebounding (51.1% percentage is 10th), which means the Hornets will have to get the offense going early in order to space out this Knicks defense a bit.
Game Notes: Knicks G Frank Ntilikina (bilateral groin soreness) and G Elfrid Payton (right ankle soreness) did not play for New York on Monday night… Charlotte has won three straight games against the Knicks and six of the last eight meetings overall.