What: Charlotte Hornets (18-54) (10-24 home) vs Golden State Warriors (38-34) (20-15 away)
When: 7:00pm Eastern
Where: Spectrum Center; Charlotte, NC
How to watch: Bally Sports Southeast, NBA League Pass
Outfitting: Hornets–City (teal), City–Statement (black)
Game Lines: Hornets +11.5, O/U 216.5
Injuries:
Hornets: LaMelo Ball-out (ankle), Cody Martin-out (ankle), Seth Curry-out (ankle), Mark Williams-out (back), Davis Bertans-probable (face)
Warriors: Dario Saric-questionable (knee), Jonathan Kuminga-questionable (knee)
Yesterday the Charlotte Hornets officially announced that LaMelo Ball was being shut down for the season. Steve Clifford also confirmed that Seth Curry and Cody Martin won’t return this season as a result of their ankle injuries. The Hornets are going to roll through the rest of the season with what they currently have.
The Warriors are positioned to do the opposite. They’ve been clinging to a play-in spot for most of the season, and a resurgent Houston Rockets team is now turning up the heat. The Rockets have won ten games in a row which has cut the Warriors cushion to just one game. The Warriors desperately need to win every game they can to stave off the Rockets charge. They’ll see a visit to the Hornets as a must win game for their playoff aspirations.
The Warriors are coming off a very important win over the Magic that wasn’t important enough to Draymond Green to prevent him from getting ejected four minutes into the game. They won by holding the Magic to just 93 points while getting contributions from their main three non-ejected players.
As always, the Warriors go as Stephen Curry goes. He hasn’t been going up to his normal speed in recent weeks. He’s shooting just 40.6% from the field and 35.8% from three in the month of March while averaging just over 21 points per game. He’s registered a total of one block and two steals in the entire month. He might be running out of gas, and the entire team is sputtering because of it.
No one else on the team has stepped up to help. Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins’ struggles have been well documented this year. Draymond Green has had as many games missed due to ejections or suspension than he has double digit scoring games. Chris Paul has been such a nonfactor that I’m sure there are handful of you reading this that forgot he’s even on the Warriors. And yes, he has been playing.
Rookie Brandin Podziemski and third year pro Jonathan Kuminga are probably the only true bright spots of the season. Podziemski isn’t a great NBA player at this point, but he’s performed well relative to his draft position. Kuminga has been really good since that random weird report about him losing faith in Steve Kerr.
The Hornets need to be prepared for the desperation of the Warriors. They’ll probably play at a playoff intensity to start the game. The Hornets will have to match that if they want to play spoiler.
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