Preview/Game Details: The Hawks and the Hornets on Valentine’s Day – At The Hive

What: Charlotte Hornets (12-41) (7-21 home) vs Atlanta Hawks (24-30) (11-15 away)

When: 7:00pm Eastern

Where: Spectrum Center; Charlotte, NC

How to watch: Bally Sports Southeast, NBA League Pass

Outfitting: Hornets–Statement (purple), Hawks–Association (white)

Game Lines: Hornets +6.5, O/U 237.5

Injuries:
Hornets: LaMelo Ball-out (ankle), Mark Williams-out (back)

Hawks: Clint Capela-out (groin), Onyeka Okongwu-out (toe), Mouhamed Gueye-out (back), Wesley Matthews-out (illness)

It’s no coincidence that the Hawks and the Hornets (aka the Birds and the Bees) are playing on Valentine’s Day. Romance is in the air.

The Hornets will be looking for their longest win streak of the season, a whopping three games. They’ve won their previous two by nine points each, which is a larger margin of victory than any win the team had prior. The new players that were picked up at the trade deadline are working out pretty well.

The Hawks took the opposite approach to the trade deadline. Despite rumors swirling around guard Dejounte Murray in the weeks leading up to the deadline, the Hawks elected to stand pat. They completed exactly zero transactions in the days leading up to and following the deadline. They’re riding this thing out as the current ten seed in the East. Though it sounds like a major overhaul is coming this offseason.

For the here and now, the Hornets are in a slightly better run of form. They forced a players only meeting out of the Pacers with their win on Friday. The Hawks have won two out of three but lost to the Bulls in their most recent outing and have now lost another player to injury.

The Hawks barely have a center right now. Top two centers Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu have both been ruled out for this game while rookie Mouhamed Gueye has missed most of the season with a back injury. That leaves one Bruno Fernando as the only healthy center on the roster. Jalen Johnson (who’s probably a dark horse for most improved player this season) seems like the most likely bet to fill in the backup minutes at the five.

The key for the Hornets will be to replicate the success they had in the paint against the Pacers. They made 28-of-38 shot attempts inside the paint (73.4%). Without much rim protection on the other side, the Hornets have every chance to meet or exceed that efficiency around the basket. That’s especially true if they can get the very foul prone Bruno Fernando into foul trouble early in the game.

The Hornets get a whole week off after tonight. They’ll be trying to enter the all star break on the highest of notes.