Charlotte Hornets vs. New York Knicks

Charlotte Hornets vs. New York Knicks / NBA – The two teams will meet two nights in a row, the Knicks are host the first and the Hornets of the second game. Having not watched the first game in NY, we can freely say, based on current form of both teams, that New York is a favourite here, regardless that playing away is not a bed of roses for them and that they lost five games in a row in Charlotte. Begins: 27.11.2016 – 01:00 CET

Charlotte Hornets

The Hornets had a good start of season but three defeats in a row have significantly ruined their score. True, it is still positive but three defeats by the Pelicans, Grizzlies and Spurs are indicator of crisis in Charlotte. On top of it, their defence bordered with catastrophic in those three games as they received 121, 105 and 119 points, respectively, where two of them were suffered at home. It seems sometime they are overcrowded at positions four and five (Kaminsky, Zeller, Hibbert, Williams and Hawes), while starting guards don’t have adequate replacement or in other words the bench is short with good enough shooters from the field, except Belinelli who is rarely capable to make full offensive potential.

Kemba Walker plays the best season in his career and his numbers for points, shooting from the field and three-pointers are the best so far, while on top of it he is the team leader in number of assists and steals. He is a complete player and what is perhaps the most important, he loses only 1.7 balls per game, which is a fantastic number for a point guard. Batum is similar player, or in other words he is similarly versatile but his average is for almost 11 points smaller than Walker’s (14 per game). Kidd-Gilchrist still averages 8.8 points per game, while his optimal contribution should be around 12-14 points. After a pause of 10 games guard Lamb is back, while centre Zeller has missed a couple of last games due to injury.

Probable lineups Charlotte Hornets: Walker, Batum, Kidd-Gilchrist, Williams, Hibbert

New York Knicks

The Knicks are good home team this season as they won just one out of six away games. It doesn’t mean that are outsiders in this game, especially as before duel against the Hornets they won the Hawks and Blazers. When we add they won four out of five last games, that it can be said that the Knicks are a slight favourite in this game. Statistically, they are no better than the Hornets but they can certainly parry to them.

Regardless of the first star of the team, Anthony (22.5 points per game) the season could be marked by young Porzingis who made a huge progress compared to previous season. Boy booed last summer by almost all Knicks fans has turned into their favourite player in short period of time. He averages this season even 21 points and 7.3 rebounds and many consider him a true successor of Dirk Nowitzki. He plays in a similar way as the German, he is dangerous from all positions, penetrative and what is important he is no afraid of duels.