Hornets at Timberwolves
The Charlotte Hornets have their eyes on a playoff spot but aren’t taking advantage of opportunities to move into eighth place in the Eastern Conference. The Hornets visit the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday and they remain behind the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers because they have lost five of their last six games. “We can’t put our heads down,” guard Kemba Walker told reporters. “We have to go out and just try to win the next one.”
Charlotte suffered a 101-91 loss to Sacramento on Friday - its second loss to the Kings in a 10-day span. Minnesota has been depleted by injuries but still was able to notch a 95-92 overtime victory over the New York Knicks on Thursday to halt a six-game losing streak. The Timberwolves had just eight players suited up against New York and that will likely occur again versus the Hornets.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, SportSouth (Charlotte), FSN North (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE HORNETS (29-38): Charlotte started March well with five straight victories before the recent slump that threatens to keep the team from landing a playoff spot. “We’ve lost our way a little bit lately,” guard Gerald Henderson told reporters. “Our defense is not as consistent as it was, and the way we start games is not how we need to play. We haven’t come out and played well early in games.” Walker has struggled in five games since his return from knee surgery, averaging 10.8 points on 29.8 percent shooting.
ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (15-53): Minnesota’s injury list includes center Nikola Pekovic (ankle), power forward Kevin Garnett (knee) and point guard Ricky Rubio (ankle), and that led to four players seeing more than 40 minutes of action against the Knicks. Center Gorgui Dieng stood out in his 48 minutes of action with 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting to go with 11 rebounds and six blocked shots. The situation was so dire that guard Sean Kilpatrick was signed from the D-League prior to the game and played 10 scoreless minutes.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Charlotte has won 12 of the past 16 meetings and posted a 105-80 rout of the Timberwolves on Jan. 19.
2. Hornets G Mo Williams began the season with Minnesota and averaged 12.2 points in 41 games, and he has bumped that to 19.1 points in 15 games for Charlotte.
3. Minnesota SG Kevin Martin is averaging 27.3 points over the last three games.