Hornets at Hawks
The Charlotte Hornets are one of the hottest teams in the Eastern Conference with wins in six of their last seven games despite enduring a road-heavy portion of the schedule. The Hornets will try to earn a 5-1 road trip when they cap the excursion by visiting the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday.
Charlotte has pushed its way into the top eight in the East and is only one game behind the Hawks in the standings thanks to the recent, Kemba Walker-led surge. The dynamic guard buried the go-ahead shot on Friday as the Hornets escaped with a 96-95 win over the Indiana after squandering a double-digit lead. Atlanta was fading with losses in five of six but looked stronger with a balanced attack in Friday’s 103-88 win over the Chicago Bulls. The Hawks had trouble holding onto a lead in the losses in three straight after the All-Star break but raced out early against the Bulls and won every quarter while limiting the visitors to 36.4 percent shooting.
TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Charlotte, Atlanta)
ABOUT THE HORNETS (30-27): Walker went to his left hand for the go-ahead layup with 2.4 seconds left on Friday for the latest in a long line of game-winning shots that stretches back to college. "He wants the ball, there's no question about that," Hornets coach Steve Clifford told reporters of Walker. "He wants to take the big shot. Make or miss, he has courage, so you know he’s raising up as if he’s gonna make it." Walker has scored 20 or more points in in each of his eight games this month and is averaging 24.1 points in that span.
ABOUT THE HAWKS (32-27): Atlanta kept inching closer to a win, even holding a lead on the NBA-best Golden State Warriors late on Monday before falling, but finally put everything together on Friday. Center Al Horford has been one of the more consistent performers on the team and rolled to 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting in the win. Horford was limited to a season-low two points in 28 minutes at Charlotte on Jan. 13 while chasing smaller lineups around the perimeter.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Hawks G/F Kent Bazemore is 3-of-24 from 3-point range in the last six games.
2. Hornets F Marvin Williams collected 26 points and 13 rebounds on Friday and has recorded double-digits on the boards in three straight contests.
3. Charlotte snapped a three-game losing streak in the series with a 107-84 home win on Jan. 13.