Wizards at Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets worked their way out of the top eight in the Eastern Conference with a 91-84 home loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday and are suddenly no longer a lock to win on their own floor. The Hornets will try to snap a five-game home slide when they host the Washington Wizards on Friday.
Charlotte expected to take advantage of a handful of home dates coming out of the All-Star break but instead is 2-5 since the break, with each of the five setbacks coming at home. The lone home win in that span came in the first game after the break, when Kemba Walker led the way with 27 points in a 123-110 triumph over the Wizards. Washington, which sits two games behind the Hornets and three in back of the eighth-place Heat, is running up the score of late and averaged 133.5 points in wins over the Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks in the last two contests. "Yes, we are in it," Wizards guard Bradley Beal told reporters of the playoff race. "That is where we are. Our goal is to make the playoffs until the fat lady sings at the end of the year. We have to keep pushing forward and take it a game at a time. We try to go week-by-week. Try to get four games every week. So far, we are 2-0, and we have 18 more games left or so maybe less, so we just have to make sure we are ready to go. We still have a great opportunity in front of us. We can win a lot of games and make some noise down the stretch."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBCS Washington, FS Southeast (Charlotte)
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (27-37): Beal is leading the way for Washington and dropped in 30 points on 11-of-19 shooting to go with eight assists and seven rebounds on Wednesday in a 132-123 triumph over the Mavericks. Beal is averaging 32.2 points on 53.8 percent shooting in six games since the All-Star break, including 46 points in the loss at Charlotte on Feb. 22. The Wizards are also getting solid play from forward Jabari Parker, who came over from the Chicago Bulls at the trade deadline and enjoyed his fourth 20-plus effort in 10 games with the team while scoring 20 points on 10-of-11 shooting Wednesday.
ABOUT THE HORNETS (29-35): The 84 points scored Wednesday matched a season low for Charlotte, which dropped nine of its last 12 contests. The lone bright spot of late is forward Frank Kaminsky, who led the team in scoring with 20 points against the Heat and is averaging 17.7 points on 60.6 percent shooting in three games since being added back into the rotation. "I thought Frank was great tonight," Hornets coach James Borrego told reporters. "He helped us. We couldn't make a shot for the most part tonight and he was one of those guys that looked for a shot, was confident, got to the rim some and he was aggressive for us offensively, so I thought Frank was excellent tonight."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Wizards G Tomas Satoransky matched his career high with 11 assists on Wednesday.
2. Walker is 10-of-38 from the floor over the last two contests.
3. The teams split the first two meetings, with each protecting home court.