**What:** Charlotte Hornets (25-29) (11-14 home) vs Atlanta Hawks (26-29) (16-14 away)
**When:** 7:00pm Eastern
**Where:** Spectrum Center; Charlotte, NC
**How to watch:** FanDuel Sports Network, NBA League Pass
**Outfitting:** Hornets–Statement (purple), Hawks–Association (white)
**Game Lines:** Hornets -5.5, Hornets money line -230, O/U 233.5
**Injuries:**
Hornets: Coby White-out (calf), Liam McNeeley-out (ankle)
Hawks: Jonathan Kuminga-out (knee), Jalen Johnson-questionable (knee), Dyson Daniels-questionable (ankle), Zaccharie Risacher-questionable (quad)
The Hornets will be playing their first game off a loss since they walloped the Magic on the second night of a back to back all the way back on January 22nd. The nine game winning streak has come to an end, but what a magical ride it was. It’s lifted the Hornets all the way up into the play-in party, and a meeting with the Hawks has a chance to help the Hornets climb even higher.
Even though the Hornets lost on Monday, their positioning hasn’t changed since the Hawks lost as well. Charlotte currently sits a mere half game behind Atlanta for the nine seed. A win tonight would leapfrog the Hornets past the Hawks and just a couple games back of Miami for the all important eight seed.
We just saw these two teams play a few days ago, so there isn’t a whole lot that we don’t know. The biggest question mark surrounds the health of most of the Hawks’ starting lineup, but I have to assume all of them are going to suit up given the importance of this game. A Hornets win would clinch the tiebreaker, and that could be massive given how tight the race is shaping up to be for the play-in spots. I highly doubt the Hawks would cede that, especially with the All Star break starting as soon as this game ends.
The Hornets will try to bounce back from an emotional loss to the Pistons. Detroit is a brutal team to play against given how physical they are and what they’re allowed to get away with. Emotions bubbled over into a scuffle that had Moussa Diabate and Miles Bridges ejected from the Hornets side of things. Charles Lee got sent to the locker room early after arguing about the softest away from the play foul call you’ll ever see after the officials allowed the Pistons to get away with grabbing and holding all game. But I digress. The boys are fired up, and hopefully that fight has them juiced up to pummel the Hawks. As far as I can tell, no one has been issued a suspension for the fight, but maybe that changes before the game tonight.
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