Nets at Hornets
Teams on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture who are in need of a win meet Wednesday when the Brooklyn Nets visit the Charlotte Hornets. The Hornets sit one-half game back of Boston for the eighth spot while the Nets are 1 1/2 games behind with Indiana in between just one game back. Brooklyn does have a favorable schedule with nine of the final 13 games at home, but the Nets are 12-20 at the Barclays Center and the only team in the NBA with more road wins (17) than home.
"It definitely stinks that we can't give our fans something to cheer about, a reason to get excited about the games and coming to games, and that kind of puts a damper on things," Nets guard Deron Williams told reporters. Brooklyn had won four of five, including a triple-overtime victory versus Milwaukee on Friday followed one night later with a triumph in Indiana, but the Nets ran out of gas at home Monday in a 110-91 crushing loss to Boston. Charlotte just completed a 1-4 road trip with a 98-86 loss at Chicago on Monday.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, YES (Brooklyn), SportSouth (Charlotte)
ABOUT THE NETS (29-40): Brook Lopez scored 31 points against the Celtics, but Joe Johnson and Jarrett Jack combined to shoot 4-of-20. "We knew this was a big game," Williams told reporters. "It wasn't just one game like it normally is when you lose to a team when you fall back one game in the standings. This was actually two because of the tiebreaker. Now they have the tiebreaker." Lopez is averaging 19.3 points on 55.9 percent shooting and 9.5 rebounds in his last 10 games while Johnson and Williams are averaging just 23.7 points combined over that same span.
ABOUT THE HORNETS (30-39): Kemba Walker had 29 points and Mo Williams 15 as Charlotte ended the five-game trip. "It's been a long trip. We've played better," Hornets coach Steve Clifford told reporters. "We had some stretches of good play tonight. We hope to play better on Wednesday." The Hornets played without Cody Zeller (shoulder) and most of the second half without Al Jefferson (knee), who should be ready for the Nets.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Walker is averaging 21 points, four assists and 3.3 steals in his last three games.
2. Mo Williams is averaging 15.9 points and 4.9 assists in 31.9 minutes over seven games (2-5) since Walker's return after averaging 21.4 points and 8.5 assists in 35.2 minutes over 10 games (6-4) prior to his return.
3.. Nets G-F Bojan Bogdanovic averaged 17.8 points on 63.8 percent shooting while draining 8-of-16 from the arc in four games prior to shooting 3-of-14 against the Celtics.