Rockets at Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets managed to snap a seven-game slide with a 111-107 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday but will take a big step up in competition when they host the surging Houston Rockets on Thursday. The Rockets seem to have put a poor January behind them and secured wins in two of their first three games this month.
Charlotte dropped out of the top eight in the Eastern Conference with its seven-game skid and shot just 39.2 percent from the floor in Tuesday's win over the NBA-worst Nets, but were happy just to return to the win column. "We needed that game, you know we needed that game," shooting guard Nicolas Batum told reporters. "We’re back home so we had to protect home court and we needed to win that game, and that’s it." Houston protected home court by taking three of four on the just-completed homestand and began a stretch of six straight games against sub-.500 opponents with a 128-104 thrashing of the Orlando Magic on Tuesday. The Rockets did what they do best by forcing 16 turnovers and draining 16 3-pointers in the easy win and have made at least 15 3-pointers 28 times to break the record set last season by the Golden State Warriors.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, ROOT (Houston), FSN Southeast (Charlotte)
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (38-17): Houston allowed at least 102 points in each of its 17 losses and understands where the focus needs to be to keep winning. "Offense is good," Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni told reporters. "Someone said, 'falling out of bed we'll get 100, 110 points just doing nothing,' but our whole key this year going forward is just can we - you know, we hold them under 100, we're like 17-0. So, can we hold guys close to that 100 mark? If we do we're going to be good. We don't, we're fooling ourselves." All-Star point guard James Harden made up for a 6-of-21 shooting performance on Tuesday by handing out 13 assists while sparking the defense with three steals.
ABOUT THE HORNETS (24-28): Charlotte star Kemba Walker will be counted on to help defend Harden on Thursday and failed to break out of his personal funk while going 4-of-20 from the floor on Tuesday, but he ended up with 17 points and five assists. "We needed a win and that's the most important thing," Hornets coach Steve Clifford told reporters. "Hopefully now we can get that feeling back and come back Thursday and play a good, balanced game." Walker is 11-of-42 from the floor in the last three contests to mark the first time since December that he failed to reach 20 points in three straight contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Hornets C Cody Zeller (quad) sat out the last four games but will be evaluated on Wednesday and could return on Thursday.
2. Houston SG Eric Gordon is 9-of-18 from 3-point range in the last two games after going 6-of-27 in the previous three contests.
3. Harden went off for 40 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in a 121-114 home win over Charlotte on Jan. 10.