The suddenly struggling Charlotte Hornets make a visit to Tennessee to take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night. Charlotte started the season with wins in two out of their first three games but have fallen off of late under the weight of a number of key missing personal. Memphis, fresh off of last season's 50+ win team, sits at 5-3 and fresh off of a road-win in Portland. The opening tip is scheduled for 8:00pm EST.
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The off the court distractions and, more importantly, the on the court missing pieces seem to be finally catching up to the Charlotte Hornets. The team lost one of their supposed corner-pieces in the offseason due to off the court troubles and have been without three projected starters for nearly the entire start to the season. As a result, the Hornets now sit at just 3-5 and have lost four of their past five games. On Wednesday night, despite it being a back-to-back game for the Bulls, the Hornets were trounced 106-88 in Chicago. The Hornets reserves were outscored in the game, 49-28, by the Bulls bench. With so many starters out, the depth of the Hornets has been severely compromised. Kellly Oubre Jr. led the Hornets with 24 points including five 3-pt field goals and Mason Plumlee chipped in with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
“When you slow down their star players and then the other players kind of affect the ga me, those are the type of games that we don't want to have,” Oubre said.
.@KELLYOUBREJR: 24 PTS, 5 REB, 2 STL@jalenmcdaniels5: 11 PTS, 5 STL, 6 REB@masonplumlee: 11 PTS, 13 REB, 3 AST
Presented by @drpepper pic.twitter.com/5ZVgIsWQxz
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) November 3, 2022
Things that were strengths of the Hornets in the early part of the season, have now turned into weaknesses over the past several games. Charlotte shot just 39% from the floor against Chicago and the NBA's leading scoring team for much of the season managed just 88 points, including just 36 in the second half. The Hornets rotational defense, which had earned them the #1 spot in 3pt defense through the first several games, suffered against Chicago. They allowed the Bulls to shoot 45% from long range as Hornets' role players continue to have to play more and more minutes.
Key Injuries: F Cody Martin, G LaMelo Ball and G Terry Rozier all remain out until further notice and now G/F Gordon Hayward is questionable after leaving the Bulls game with shoulder soreness.
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