Hornets look to get right in Washington

INJURY REPORT

Hornets: OUT -Tre Mann (Back), Grant Williams (Knee); QUESTIONABLE - Brandon Miller (Ankle)

Wizards: OUT - Saddiq Bey (Knee), Marvin Bagley III (Knee); QUESTIONABLE - Kyle Kuzma (Ribs), Alex Sarr (Back), Bilal Coulibaly (Groin), Bub Carrington (Side)

Game Preview

The Hornets (7-22) hit the road on Thursday for the nation’s capital to take on the Washington Wizards (4-23) in a Southeastern Division matchup.

Charlotte comes into the matchup looking to break a current five-game losing streak, including a 123-114 loss at the hands of Washington, before the new calendar year.

On the other side, the Wizards only won in their last five games came in the aforementioned matchup against the Hornets. Losing those other four games by an average of 13.25 points, Washington

Key Matchup - Finding Success Beyond the Arc

The Hornets and Wizards rank 22nd and 28th in the NBA in three-point shooting percentage, respectively, so the play beyond the arc might not be where one’s brain goes when considering the strengths of these two teams.

Digging a little deeper, though, the Hornets score 41.3% of their points beyond the arc, the third-highest rate in the NBA. The large portion of points scored from three despite one of the lowest percentages from the same range is possible because only Boston and Chicago shoot more threes than the Hornets' 42.4 attempts per game.

The Wizards are far less three-point focused in their scoring, sitting bottom-half of the league in both three-pointers attempted per game, as well as percentage of points scored from range.

Although the two teams appeared less dependent on three-pointers on paper, success beyond the arc was the biggest difference maker during last week’s matchup.

Charlotte and Washington shot nearly the same number of threes in the matchup, 43 and 42 respectively. When it came to attempts that converted though, Washington’s 40.5% compared to Charlotte’s 18.6% was game-defining.

With two young rosters trying to claw their way out of the Eastern Conference’s basement, finding and defending good looks from deep may be the difference maker in tonight’s matchup as well.

Projected Starting Lineups

Position	Charlotte Hornets	Washington Wizards
PG	LaMelo Ball	Jordan Poole
SG	Brandon Miller	Malcolm Brogdon
SF	Josh Green	Bilal Coulibaly
PF	Miles Bridges	Kyshawn George
C	Mark Williams	Alexandre Sarr

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