The steep uphill climb continues for the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday when hosting the visiting Dallas Mavericks. Losing is sadly starting to turn into a hobby with the Hornets losing 12 of their last 13 games. Since defeating the New York Knicks, they have gone on to lose their last four straight games, including Tuesday’s 125-110 loss to the Houston Rockets. Meanwhile, the Mavericks are coming off back-to-back losses to the Washington Wizards and Memphis Grizzlies.
Mavericks fail to overcome key injuries
The Mavericks are like night and day with and without star point forward Luka Doncic. When he’s on the floor, along with Kristaps Porzingis, they legitimately look like they’re one player away from competing for an NBA championship. But when he’s gone, they barely look like a playoff team. On Friday night, they dropped a 119-118 loss to the Wizards on the road in a game where they dominated on the boards.
With Doncic injured and Porzingis’ time limited after breaking his nose in the previous outing, the Mavericks didn’t have anyone on the floor capable of going toe-to-toe with Washington’s Bradley Beal. Perhaps they’ll have more of a fighting chance in Saturday’s game against the Hornets.
Charlotte sits near the bottom in offensive efficiency with the team averaging a league-worst 103.0 points per game. Even with both of Dallas’ star players hurt, there has to be some hope they’ll be spared on the defensive end of the floor. The Mavericks have the 17th-ranked defense in the league with teams averaging 45.3 percent shooting against them.
At the very least, they won’t have to worry about a one-man army type of player like Beal terrorizing them.
The Mavericks are having a tough time living up to their No. 1 offensive ranking without Doncic, but they did show some resilience against a bad Wizards defense. There is hope they can do the same against a Hornets defense that ranks third-worst in the league
Hornets stung with another loss
Even when the Hornets are winning, they’re still finding new ways to lose.
They shockingly led the Rockets by as many as 15 points before blowing the game on Tuesday. Hornets head coach James Borrego had to be sick to his stomach when looking back at the end-game stats. The Hornets had the better shooting percentage and went plus-13 on the boards. And it still wasn’t enough to finish off the Rockets.
They’ll try to pick up the pieces in Saturday’s meeting with the Mavericks.
Porzingis not being on the injury report for the Mavericks is a good sign that he’ll likely play in the game. His presence only creates more problems for a Hornets team that’s dealt with enough of them this season. Charlotte is allowing 111.2 points per game on the road, setting the stage for another long night for Borrego.
The Mavericks haven’t shown much on the defensive end of the floor, but the Hornets are too unreliable on offense to expect they’d actually be able to exploit any weaknesses. They are averaging 43.4 percent shooting against opponents. It could take more than Terry Rozier and Devonte’ Graham to save these Hornets.
