For the first time since the opening two games of the season, the Lakers have lost back-to-back games following Saturday’s 105-90 loss in Portland. Los Angeles (5-5) will welcome LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets (5-6). Tune into Spectrum SportsNet at 6:30 p.m. PT for the pregame show, with tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PT.
Here are three things to know before the night’s contest:
TURN THE TIDE
Both teams come into tonight’s game on losing streaks; Lakers have lost two in a row and the Hornets have lost four consecutively (three on their five-game road trip). Following their first two-game skid, the Lakers won five out of seven games.
L.A. will start a five-game homestand against formidable opponents and will look to find their winning ways once again. Following Saturday’s loss to the Trail Blazers, Dwight Howard referenced three key components in what the team needs to do for it to be ‘Lakers basketball.’
“We can’t make excuses,” Howard said. “Energy, effort and humility. And go out there every night and just play. But if we’re going to win, you’ve got to be humble. We’re not the championship team that we want to be right now. That’s no knock on who we are as players, it’s just, as a team, if you want to win at any level, you’ve got to stay humble.”
THE FORMER HORNET
Malik Monk signed with Los Angeles this past offseason after spending four seasons with the team that selected him 11th in the 2017 NBA draft: the Charlotte Hornets.
Last season, Monk was second on the team in 3-point percentage behind Gordon Hayward shooting a career-high 40.1 percent (with at least 40 games played).
In 233 games rocking the Hornets colors, Monk averaged 9.1 PTS, 2.0 REB, and 1.8 AST.
Following back-to-back solid outings against Memphis and San Antonio in mid-October, Monk had been quiet and produced back-to-back games where he did not record any points (10/29 vs CLE and 10/31 vs HOU).
That was until Saturday’s game in Portland where Monk scored 13 points and added 4 rebounds with 3 assists.
With some momentum and a need to step up in the absence of his star teammates, Monk will look to go off in his “revenge game” against his former employer.
EXPECT A SHOOTOUT
Entering tonight, Charlotte is ranked 2nd in the league in average points per game with 113.5 and Los Angeles comes in at 11th scoring an average of 110.1 points per game.
From beyond the arc, the Hornets are shooting a league’s second-best, 38.0 percent, while the Lakers are shooting 35.4 percent, good for ninth in the league.
Carmelo Anthony is ranked 8th in the league in 3-point percentage at 49.2 and Gordon Hayward of Charlotte is one behind Anthony in 9th shooting 49.1 percent for three. Melo is also a much better shooter at home than he is on the road, averaging 19.4 points and hitting 63.3 percent of his 3-point attempts.
On the other side of the ball, the Lakers rank 12th in the league in defensive rating at 106.8. The Hornets, meanwhile, are dead last in the NBA with a defensive rating of 114.5 and through the first three games of their road trip have allowed their opponent to score an average total of 125 points per game.
Los Angeles has scored an average of 110.1 points and has allowed their opponent an average of 109 points through seven home games so far this season.