Charlotte Hornets vs Toronto Raptors Game Preview
The Hornets are back home on Sunday for the first of back-to-back games against the Raptors. Charlotte (26-52) is locked into both the 14th seed in the Eastern Conference and the fourth-worst record in the league at this point, but they will have a huge impact on the East's playoff picture.
The Raptors (38-39) are currently tied for the 8th seed in the East with five games to play. With a magic number of one for a playoff berth, if Toronto wins one more game (or the Wizards lose one more game) they will clinch a playoff berth.
More importantly, though, the Raptors are jockeying with the Hawks and Bulls to host their play-in game by securing the eighth seed. With their final three games of the season being against the Celtics twice and the Bucks- the two teams with the best records in the NBA- Toronto will surely have their sights on trying to clean up while they can against the Hornets.
Charlotte's top priority for the latter half of the season has been the development of youngsters like Mark Williams, and figuring out which players will be in line for what roles next season. As we saw from the Hornets sweeping last week's double-header against the playoff-hungry Mavericks though, the Hornets are not simply going to roll over to a team with more immediate aspirations for winning.
What to Watch for:
The Raptors won both of the matchups earlier in the season in Toronto behind the leading performance of Pascal Siakam who combined for 63 points over the two games, as well as complimentary two-way pressure from O.G. Anunoby and Scottie Barnes. If the Hornets are going to play spoiler, they are going to need to contend with the notable length that Toronto sports throughout the lineup.
2022-23 Team Leaders:
Minutes: Pascal Siakam - 37.5 (TOR), Terry Rozier - 35.3 (CHA)
FG%: Jakob Poeltl - 66.7% (TOR), Mark Williams - 63.5% (CHA)
3FG%: O.G. Anunoby - 38.8% (TOR), Svi Mykhailiuk - 43.8% (CHA)
PPG: Pascal Siakam - 24.1 (TOR), Terry Rozier - 21.1 (CHA)
RPG: Jakob Poeltl - 9.6 (TOR), Mark Williams - 6.7 (CHA)
APG: Fred VanVleet - 7.0 (TOR), Terry Rozier - 5.1 (CHA)
SPG: O.G. Anunoby - 1.9 (TOR), Dennis Smith Jr. - 1.4 (CHA)
BPG: Jakob Poeltl - 1.4 (TOR) , Mark Williams - 1.1 (CHA)
Stat key: PPG - points per game | RPG - rebounds per game | APG - assists per game | SPG - steals per game | BPG- blocks per game
Raptors roster
PG: Fred VanVleet, Jeff Dowtin Jr., Malachi Flynn, Dalano Blanton
SG: O.G. Anunoby, Gary Trent Jr. (OUT)
SF: Scottie Barnes, Will Barton (DTD),
PF: Pascal Siakam, Chris Boucher, Thaddeus Young
C: Jakob Poeltl, Precious Achiuwa, Christian Koloko
Head coach: Nick Nurse
Hornets roster
PG: Terry Rozier, Dennis Smith Jr., Theo Maledon, James Bouknight
SG: Kelly Oubre Jr., Bryce McGowens,
SF: Gordon Hayward, Cody Martin, Svi Mykhailiuk
PF: P.J. Washington, JT Thor, Kai Jones
C: Mark Williams, Nick Richards
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