Hornets at Nets
The Charlotte Hornets are playing their way out of the top eight in the Eastern Conference and failed to take advantage of a four-game homestand coming out the All-Star break. The Hornets will try to get things turned around on the road when they visit one of the teams in front of them in the standings at the Brooklyn Nets on Friday.
Charlotte entered play on Thursday just a half-game ahead of the ninth-place Orlando Magic after dropping the final three of the homestand, including a 117-115 loss to the Nets on Saturday. "We just have to keep chipping away," Hornets coach James Borrego told reporters. "We can't hang our heads. We're battling against the top teams right now. We're giving ourselves a chance. We felt like we gave one away at home here (Saturday) night against Brooklyn. We battled against two tough teams (Golden State on Monday and Houston on Wednesday). We're right there. We just have to stay with it - don’t hang our heads, move on to the next game, get better, just keep pounding away and this thing will turn in our direction." The Nets sit in the No. 6 spot in the East despite dropping a 125-116 decision at home to the Washington Wizards on Wednesday. "Whatever 'it' is, we didn't have it tonight," Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson told reporters. "It was a lack of sharpness. Games like this happen in the NBA, but I didn't like the way it happened. ... It was nine points, but it really was a 20-point or 25-point loss the way it feels."
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FS Southeast (Charlotte), YES (New York)
ABOUT THE HORNETS (28-33): Charlotte dropped seven of its last nine games bridging the All-Star break despite the continued strong play of All-Star guard Kemba Walker. Walker went for 35 points on 12-of-22 shooting on Wednesday in the 118-113 loss to the Rockets while trying to guard the likes of Chris Paul and James Harden at the other end of the floor. "Kemba understands he has to play on two ends of the floor," Borrego told reporters after the loss. "For us to even compete in this game he’s going to have to guard and he did tonight. It's taxing. Then he has to create on the other end for us every single possession. That's taxing. We're asking a lot of him and if it comes down to the stretch, that's how it goes but he's battling. He's giving us everything he has out there."
ABOUT THE NETS (32-31): Brooklyn allowed the Wizards to race out to a lead early on Friday and recognized the lack of focus and urgency. "We came out unprepared, just mentally unfocused," center Jarrett Allen told reporters. "You could tell our energy wasn't there, and our minds weren't either." One exception was All-Star point guard D'Angelo Russell, who scored 28 points on 9-of-16 shooting in the setback and is averaging 30.3 points over the last three contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Hornets C Cody Zeller is 17-of-20 from the floor over the last two games.
2. Nets SG Caris LeVert went scoreless on 0-of-5 shooting Wednesday.
3. Brooklyn took two of the first three meetings, including a 134-132 overtime victory at home on Dec. 26.