Hornets Host Star-Studded Suns

Durant, Booker, and Beal visit Spectrum Center on Friday

Author:
Albert Böttcher
Mar 15, 2024 11:11 AM EDT

In this story:

Charlotte Hornets

Injury Report

𝗛𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘀: OUT Curry (Ankle), Martin (Ankle), Ball (Ankle), Williams (Back), McGowens (Knee)

Suns: OUT Lee (Knee), Gordon (Knee), Okogie (Abdomen)

𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄

The Suns will be on the second night of a back-to-back, after losing to the Boston Celtics on Thursday. Despite a good rebounding effort (51-33) against the best board-getters in the league, the Suns never had a real shot at winning, as Jayson Tatum and Co. drained 25 of their fifty triple tries. It was Phoenix's second loss against Boston in five days, beating the Cavaliers in between those matchups.

Frank Vogel's ball club came into this season with lofty expectations, after acquiring three-time All-Star Bradley Beal and veteran center Jusuf Nurkic. Up to this point, it has been a solid year but far from perfect. Before tonight's game, Phoenix has a 38-28 record and sits in 7th place in the west, 0.5 games behind Sacramento. As to be expected, the Suns have had a midrange-heavy shot diet, with 11.4% of their points coming from that space.

What has prevented them from finding offensive consistency and rhythm are their injury problems. They are second in games missed due to injury by guards, with Bradley Beal having sat out for a total of 29 matchups alone. Beal, Booker, and Durant have only shared 507 minutes on the court, which is less than half of Phoenix's most-played three-man lineup (Durant/Nurkic/Allen, 1070) and equates to only 7.9 minutes per game. Luckily for Frank Vogel, Grayson Allen has provided some much-needed scoring in the absence of others, shooting a career-high 47.9% from deep on 5.6 attempts per game.

𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵-𝗨𝗽: Jusuf Nurkic vs Nick Richards

Stopping the trio of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal will be enough of a challenge by itself. But when the Suns' mid-range assassins miss, the Hornets cannot allow Jusuf Nurkic to eat up too many offensive rebounds. The Bosnian big man averages 11 boards on the season and is coming off a 20rb/7Orb performance against Boston. In the same game, Phoenix allowed 24 fastbreak points. Charlotte can follow in those footsteps if Nick Richards can get active on the glass.