Atlanta Hawks face reeling Charlotte Hornets Wednesday
By John Buhler
The Atlanta Hawks (23-15) will face a Southeast Division rival in the reeling Charlotte Hornets (17-20) who have lost their last seven games on Wednesday night in the Queen City.
The Atlanta Hawks will carry their two-game winning streak Wednesday night into Time Warner Cable Arena when they take on their Southeast Division foe in the Charlotte Hornets, losers of their last seven games. Tipoff is at 7:00 PM ET and the game will air on Fox Sports Southeast.
After dropping a pair of games to the New York Knicks at the start of 2016, the Atlanta Hawks have won their last two games over the Philadelphia 76ers and the Chicago Bulls to sit percentage points back of the Chicago Bulls for third place in the Eastern Conference, boasting a strong 23-15 record.
Charlotte entered 2015-16 with a vengeance, trying to put a disastrous 2014-15 campaign in the rearview mirror. The Hornets were looking like a legitimate playoff contender at one time earlier this season, but have not won their last seven games.
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Nobody in the Eastern Conference is playing as badly as the Hornets are of late and only the Western Conference’s Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns have done worse than 2-8 in their last ten games. Charlotte has fallen into 12th place in the East with their 17-20 record, 2.5 games back of eight-place Orlando for the final playoff spot in the conference.
The Atlanta Hawks won their two previous meeting over the Charlotte Hornets in the first few games of the season. While Charlotte is a strong home team (13-7) and Atlanta is only decent away from Philips Arena (10-8), the Hornets’ current seven-game skid combined with their bad play in the Southeast Division (2-5) should offset any home court advantage Charlotte may have in this game. Atlanta has the best record among their division rivals in Southeast play at 5-1.
Should the Atlanta Hawks win in the transition game, play strong perimeter defense, and seek points in the paint, then Atlanta will come away victorious in The Hive on Wednesday night. While this is a divisional rivalry game where anything can happen, all signs point towards another convincing win for the Atlanta Hawks over the Charlotte Hornets in this one.
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However should the Hawks become too reliant on the jump shot and the threes aren’t falling, then the Hornets could upset Atlanta in Charlotte, assuming that the Hornets can bring the necessary tenacity on defense as well as having one player decimate Atlanta with long-distance shooting. Here’s to getting the winning streak to three. Let’s Go Hawks!