**What:** Charlotte Hornets (36-34) (16-17 home) vs Memphis Grizzlies (24-45) (11-23 away)
**When:** 7:00pm Eastern
**Where:** Spectrum Center; Charlotte, NC
**How to watch:** FanDuel Sports Network, NBA League Pass
**Outfitting:** Hornets–City (orange/yellow), Grizzlies–Icon (navy)
**Game Lines:** Hornets -16.5, Hornets money line -1100, O/U 235.5
**Injuries:**
Hornets: Tidjane Salaün-out (calf)
Grizzlies: Ja Morant, Zach Edey, Santi Aldama, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Scotty Pippen Jr., Brandon Clarke are all out; Cedric Coward, GG Jackson, Jahmai Mashack, and Taj Gibson are all questionable
The biggest challenger to the Hornets tonight will be the Hornets themselves. After two vital wins over their direct competition in the playoff race, the second of which came on an emotional night honoring Dell Curry, the Hornets have to face a tanking Grizzlies team with a dearth of active NBA talent. And that dearth of talent is playing on the second night of a back to back. If there ever was a chance for a letdown spot at this point in the season, this is it.
Fortunately for Charles Lee, he’ll be able to point to Friday night as a warning to his team. Memphis had a seven point lead a few minutes into the fourth quarter against the Boston Celtics. It took a late rally for the Celtics to steal a win. If the Hornets take the Grizzlies lightly, they could find themselves in a similar spot.
It’s hard for me to really break down what the Grizzlies do because their roster is kind of mishmash of G League players and guys I’ve never even heard of. No disrespect to Ty Jerome, but he’s been far and away their best player since he returned from injury, and that’s not exactly a place you want to be as a team. He’s averaging 20 points and nearly six assists per game on tremendous efficiency. He’s a very good offensive player, but after him, the pickings get pretty slim. Jaylen Wells is pretty good. Cedric Coward is having a sneaky good rookie season, but he’s been pretty up and down since a very hot start to the season. Cam Spencer can shoot. Walter Clayton could theoretically shoot.
On the whole, the Grizzlies have been able to maintain an average offense despite all the injuries. They have not been able to do the same on the defensive end of the floor. Their defensive efficiency has been degrading as the season has gone. Perhaps most concerning from their side (if they were interested in winning the game), is that they’ve been the worst defensive rebounding team in the NBA by a pretty significant margin in 2026. That’s not surprising given the fact that from what I can tell, they don’t have a player taller than 6’9″ getting any minutes, and 40 year old Taj Gibson is the only player that you could call a center. Moussa Diabate and Ryan Kalkbrenner should be able to feast on the glass.
At the rist of sounding overconfident, there’s no reason the Hornets shouldn’t win this game. They’ve been the best offense in the league for the last few months, and the Grizzlies have struggled to stop anybody. If it’s one of those nights where the shots aren’t falling, one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the league should be able to clean up their own messes until they put the ball in the basket.
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