Charlotte Hornets vs. Brooklyn Nets: Injury Reports, Full Game Preview + More

Tonight, the long national nightmare comes to an end.

For the first time this season, the Charlotte Hornets should be able to trot out their preferred starting five of Coby White, Kon Knueppel, Brandon Miller, Naz Reid, and Moussa Diabate when they take the floor in Brooklyn, and the reinforcements couldn't have come at a better time.

Charlotte's league-worst offense hit rock bottom in their most recent game; a 124-91 loss to the Detroit Pistons that saw the Hornets muster only 37 points in the second-half. The final two quarters were a microcosm of everything that has been wrong with the Hornets thus far.

They struggled with turnovers (Charlotte's 20.3% turnover rate is the worst in the league), they couldn't convert on open three-point attempts (Charlotte is shooting 30.8% from three this season, the second-worst in the league), and they couldn't convert on their second-chance opportunities (Charlotte is second in the league in offensive rebounding percentage, but only 13th in second-chance points-per-game).

Kon Knueppel and Coby White won't fix these issues as soon as tonight, especially not with their minutes limited as they work through their return-to-play plans, but they certainly won't make things worse by returning to the lineup.

Let's break down tonight's game in Brooklyn.

Injury Report

Brooklyn Nets: OUT - Tyler Bilodeau (G-League), Egor Demin (Bone Bruise), Joshua Jefferson (G-League), Grant Nelson (G-League), Drake Powell (G-League), Ben Saraf (G-League)

Charlotte Hornets: OUT - Michael Ajayi (G-League), Kylan Boswell (G-League), PJ Hall (G-League), Grant Williams (R Hamstring Strain) PROBABLE - Kon Knueppel (L Hamstring Strain), Coby White (L Calf Injury Management)

Key Matchup

Nolan Traore and Chaney Johnson vs. Coby White and Kon Knueppel

All eyes will be on the back court tonight.

In 192 minutes with Knueppel and White on the floor together last year, the Charlotte Hornets outscored their opponents by 9.8 points per 100 possessions. That's a small sample size, but one that Charlotte is banking on being predictive for the long-term.

The synergy between those two should unlock some parts of the Hornets' offense that have been inaccessible this season. With two non-shooters on the floor in Dennis Schroder and Sion James, Charles Lee couldn't deploy the guard-guard screening actions that made his offense tick last season.

He'll have the horses available to run those sets tonight, and I'll be watching to see how they take advantage of Brooklyn's young back court combo.

Traore has begun to percolate a bit in year two. He's scored at least 15 points in four of the Nets' previous five games, and he's made nine three-pointers combined in their last two. His gift is his quickness, and the Hornets will need to be aware of his first step when he has the ball in his hands tonight.

Two Things to Watch

1. Half Court Offense

Both Charlotte and Brooklyn struggle to create good looks in half court sets.

The Hornets' enter tonight's game with the league's 30th-ranked half court offense (84.6 points/100 possessions), and the Nets boast the 23rd overall offense in those settings (90.3 points/100 possessions).

Brooklyn has the advantage in the half court because they have two guys that can create something out of nothing: Michael Porter Jr. and Julius Randle. The former is a dead-eye shooter who can get up shots with defeners draped all over him, and the latter is a mismatch nightmare that can bully just about anybody inside the arc.

2. Rebounding

This is strength-on-strength.

The Hornets are the league's second-best offensive rebounding team (35.0% OREB Rate), and Brooklyn is the fourth-ranked defensive rebounding team (26.2% DREB rate).

I say it often: Charlotte needs to clean the glass to manufacture good looks on offense. Having White and Knueppel on the floor will help the Hornets on a play-to-play basis, but they're still going to have non-scorers in the lineup for long stretches, making Moussa Diabate and Ryan Kalkbrenner pivotal to Charlotte's chances to pull out another win at the Barclays Center.

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