Preview: Hornets face Wizards, Brandon Miller questionable

What: Charlotte Hornets (7-19) (2-9 away) at Washington Wizards (3-21) (2-11 home)

When: 7:00 PM Eastern

Where: Capital One Arena; Washington DC

How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network, NBA League Pass

Equipment: Hornets – Statement (Purple), Wizards – Association (White)

Game lines: Hornets -4.5, Hornets moneyline -170, O/U 227.5

Injuries:
Hornets: Brandon Miller-doubtful (ankle), Tre Mann-out (back), Grant Williams-out (knee)

Wizards: Carlton Carrington-doubtful (illness), Kyle Kuzma-out (ribs), Saddiq Bey-out (knee)

This game makes me nervous. The Wizards are comically bad, but I have zero confidence in this Hornets team to make enough shots to beat anyone right now. If we use a completely non-random sample of the last 11 games, these two teams have the same record (1-10). However, the Hornets have been quite a bit better in their 1-10 stretch. They rank 28th in offensive rating, 20th in defensive rating and 25th in net rating in those 11 games. The Wizards rank 30th (aka last) in offensive rating, 25th in defensive rating and 30th (last again) in net rating.

Their struggles have been further exacerbated by the absence of Kyle Kuzma, who has been out for a few weeks with a rib injury. Jordan Poole and Malcolm Brogdon have been guide dogs with him out. It’s going about as well as you’d expect for Jordan Poole. Brogdon has been his typical efficient self when he has played, but he has been recovering from a hamstring problem. Justin Champagnie has coincidentally been good out of nowhere after barely playing until the month of December.

The Wizards only have three wins, but they have come against the Hawks, the Hawks again and the Nuggets. They can occasionally jump out and win a game they shouldn’t. They aren’t technically supposed to win this one either, but the Hornets have been close enough to their level to make it possible.

The Hornets have shown a propensity to encourage certain opponents to take shots. The Wizards have plenty of targets for it, which should make the defense easier than most nights, provided someone doesn’t unexpectedly burn. In the 11 game samples we’ve covered, only two Wizards have made more than a third of their threes – Malcolm Brogdon (38.9%) and Alex Sarr (35.9%). Only Jordan Poole has maintained a 3-point percentage above 33.3% for the entire season.

In some good news on the injury front for the Hornets, Brandon Miller is already listed as questionable after leaving Monday’s game with a sprained ankle. Even if he doesn’t play tonight, it looks like he’s dealing with a minor issue and will be back sooner rather than later.

It would be really nice to see the Hornets win. They need to see a couple go in so they can build some confidence that has seemingly been lacking in recent weeks. They have a pretty heavy schedule over the next few weeks, so they need to start picking up wins where they can, and do it fast.