Hornets at Pistons
The Charlotte Hornets are fresh off a season-high point total and hope to ride the momentum as they open a five-game road trip Thursday against the Detroit Pistons. Charlotte played Wednesday's game at Oklahoma City's fast pace and tallied 36 fourth-quarter points en route to a 123-112 home victory.
Shooting guard Nicolas Batum scored a season-best 28 points against the Thunder and got to the free-throw line 15 times (making 13) as he repeatedly put himself in position to be fouled. "We were aggressive," Batum told reporters. "We tried to be aggressive on offense because we know they have some bigs inside, so we tried to get into an aggressive (mode). That's it. We made plays, especially on offense." The Pistons have lost eight of their last 10 to slip to five games below .500, and coach Stan Van Gundy was disappointed with the defense in Tuesday's 121-116 loss to Indiana. "I thought our closeouts were bad," Van Gundy told reporters. "We just left people open. It's like we hope people are going to miss early on."
TV: 7:30 p.m. FSN Southeast (Charlotte), FSN Detroit
ABOUT THE HORNETS (20-16): Standout point guard Kemba Walker scored 20 points against Oklahoma City despite a 5-of-13 shooting performance and has tallied 20 or more in seven of his last eight games. Walker, who recorded nine assists against the Thunder, is a candidate to make the All-Star Game for the first time in his career and end a drought in which the squad hasn't had a player make the Eastern Conference roster since forward Gerald Wallace in 2010. Walker is averaging 22.9 points and 5.5 assists while making a career-best 41.7 percent of his 3-point attempts.
ABOUT THE PISTONS (16-21): Detroit has allowed 119 or more points four times during the shaky 10-game stretch but still ranks fourth in the league in scoring defense at 99.3. Van Gundy is considering changes to shore up the leaks, while point guard Reggie Jackson made it clear the players are the problem. "It's beyond schematics. People just walk into the paint, people are literally shooting warmup shots that's like drill work," Jackson told reporters. "It's a joke. It's something that we gotta do. Coach can't do nothing about it. It don't matter it he has a scheme or not."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The teams split two meetings in Charlotte earlier this season, with the Pistons scoring 112 points in their victory and a season-worst 77 in their loss.
2. Hornets backup SG Marco Belinelli (ankle) scored seven points in 15 minutes against the Thunder following a five-game absence.
3. Detroit backup C Aron Baynes (ankle) likely will miss his second consecutive contest.