Hornets at Rockets
The Charlotte Hornets are not off to the best start on their five-game road trip, and it's not about to get any easier. The Hornets will try to get out of Texas with a win after losing at San Antonio on Saturday when they visit the Houston Rockets on Tuesday.
Charlotte, which dropped a 115-114 heartbreaker at Detroit to begin the trip before falling 102-85 at the Spurs, lost four of its last five games overall and still needs to face a confident young Philadelphia squad and the Boston Celtics before returning home next week. While it was offense that let the team down against San Antonio, the Hornets are struggling at the other end as well and allowed their last five opponents an average of 113.6 points. The Rockets will take advantage of a suspect defense as fast as any team in the league and comes into Tuesday's meeting riding an eight-game winning streak after earning a 129-122 win at Toronto on Sunday. Star point guard James Harden continued his MVP candidacy with 40 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds against the Raptors but also committed 10 turnovers.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Charlotte), ROOT (Houston)
ABOUT THE HORNETS (20-18): Starting guard Nicolas Batum went down with a hyperextended right knee in the loss at Detroit and there is no timetable for his return, leaving Charlotte without its assists leader. Jeremy Lamb started in his place on Saturday and managed 13 points on 4-of-12 shooting and three assists. "Again, the biggest stretch in the game was similar to the other night in Detroit," coach Steve Clifford explained to reporters. "We’re right there at the end of the third and we broke the lineup and just got drilled. Similar to the other night, we’re going to have to have everybody play well with Nic out right here. We’re going to have to have some guys step up and we’ve struggled with that these last two games."
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (30-9): Harden is the star but Houston is far from a one-man team, and power forward Montrezl Harrell continues to earn himself a bigger role. The 22-year-old Louisville product dominated with 28 points on 12-of-13 shooting in 26 minutes off the bench on Sunday and is averaging 15.3 points on 69 percent shooting during the winning streak. Harrell, though slightly undersized at 6-8, is splitting minutes at center with Nene, who is shooting 66.7 percent over the last eight contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Rockets SG Eric Gordon is 4-of-25 from 3-point range in the last two contests.
2. Hornets SG Marco Belinelli is 3-of-20 from the floor in three games since returning from an ankle injury.
3. The teams split two meetings last season, with Houston grabbing a 102-95 home win behind 36 points from Harden.