Nets at Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets' three-game road trip didn't seem to solve any of their problems, and they watched their slide hit seven straight in a 105-98 loss at Utah to close the excursion on Saturday. The Hornets will try to snap the skid when they host the NBA-worst Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.
The Nets are the last team Charlotte managed to beat, securing a 112-105 home win on Jan. 21, but the Hornets' defense was shredded for an average of 112.4 points in the last seven contests. They squandered a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter against the Jazz on Saturday and are breaking in some new bodies at the center spot with Miles Plumlee making his team debut off the bench on Sunday and Frank Kaminsky starting in place of Cody Zeller (quad). Whoever gets the call at center for Charlotte will have to deal with one of the few parts of the Nets that seems to be working in center Brook Lopez, who scored 20 points on Sunday as Brooklyn dropped its ninth straight game, 103-95 to the Toronto Raptors. "If you look at it, there are times when we move the ball just so well, it completely changes the game for us," Lopez told reporters. "It's just a matter of, offensively, trusting one another, It starts at the top with me."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, YES (Brooklyn), FSN Southeast (Charlotte)
ABOUT THE NETS (9-42): Brooklyn did not reach 100 points in any of the last four games and had three starters - Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Isaiah Whitehead and Randy Foye - combine for just 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting. "We're going to keep hammering executing better on the offensive end," Nets coach Kenny Atkinson told reporters, "making better decisions, taking better shots." Reserve shooting guard Sean Kilpatrick is starting to take better shots and scored 18 points in each of the last two games while shooting a combined 11-of-21 from the floor, including 7-of-13 from beyond the arc.
ABOUT THE HORNETS (23-28): Zeller sat out the last six games and Plumlee, who was acquired from the Milwaukee Bucks last week in exchange for centers Roy Hibbert and Spencer Hawes, is still getting his legs under him after being used sparingly by the Bucks. Charlotte was outrebounded 58-43 in the loss at Utah and was outscored 32-16 in the fourth quarter as star guard Kemba Walker went cold. "They're good defensively and it really came down to make-or-miss," coach Steve Clifford told reporters of the Jazz. "We had shots there at the end ... that if we're going to win, we got to make. We missed and they made and that’s the story of the game."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Hornets reserve PG Ramon Sessions is dealing with a meniscus tear in his left knee and has yet to decide on surgery.
2. Nets SG Caris LeVert (knee soreness) sat out Sunday and is day-to-day.
3. Charlotte took two of the first three meetings this season, with the lone loss coming at Brooklyn on Dec. 26, 120-118.