Can the Golden State Warriors be stopped at all? Their unbeaten run in regular season home games is now at 34, and it seems that the Charlotte Hornets are easily next victim for number 35.
Luckily for the Hornets, Golden State’s golden boy in Steph Curry may have to sit Monday’s game out, making this East-meets-West showdown much more intriguing with the prospect of a monumental upset now looking more probable than impossible.
Can Charlotte shock the basketball world by being the team to have finally toppled the Dubs at ORACLE Arena? Let’s take a closer look at this compelling matchup below. Afterwards, get to know more about Monday’s NBA slate with our previews for Indiana vs. Miami and Toronto vs. Cleveland.
[sc:NBAArticles ]Charlotte Hornets vs. Golden State Warriors Preview
Where: ORACLE Arena, Oakland
When: Monday, January 4, 2016, 10:30 PM ET
Line: Charlotte Hornets at Golden State Warriors – view all NBA lines
Betting on the Charlotte Hornets (17-16)
What better time than now for the Charlotte Hornets to turn heads by upsetting the Golden State Warriors on their own home court. Stephen Curry is listed questionable for Monday night’s game, which means Charlotte can exploit the fact that the Warriors are scoring 17 fewer points and are also giving up 13 more points per 100 possessions this season without the reigning league MVP.
[sc:NBA250 ]However, the Hornets are rather depleted themselves as of the moment. Al Jefferson (knee), Jeremy Lin (ankle), Nicolas Batum (toe) and Spencer Hawes (back) are all sporting injuries of their own, leaving very little depth in the team’s roster.
With that being said, it’s time for the franchise’s cornerstone in Kemba Walker to play his best game of the season. Walker is averaging nearly 28 points per contest over the last five games, but the end results for the Hornets have still been unflattering without most of his running mates on the floor. Case and point: Walker racked up 32 points against Oklahoma City just this past Saturday, but the Hornets still lost to the Thunder by a wide margin, 109-90.
Without any other solid offensive threat like Jefferson or Lin to help take the load off Walker on offense, it’s more likely than not that the Hornets will see their current three-game slide increase to four rather than actually pulling off a stunning victory over Golden State.
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Betting on the Golden State Warriors (31-2)
As mentioned earlier, life without Stephen Curry has put the Golden State Warriors in a precarious situation. Curry re-injured his left leg in the first half of Saturday’s game against the Denver Nuggets, and it showed that Golden State needs its best player on the floor at all times.
In the two games from last week that Curry sat out, the Warriors were embarrassingly routed by the Mavs in Dallas and found it hard to put away the Houston Rockets the next day. As further proof of the baby-faced assassin’s value, the team needed an extra period to narrowly defeat the Nuggets on Saturday, 111-108 (and in Oakland, all the more).
Though Curry is still listed as questionable and not completely scratched out of Monday night’s game against his dad’s old team, the possible return of starting forward Harrison Barnes may just be enough to fill his void against the similarly ravaged Hornets roster. Furthermore, there have also been rumors that head coach Steve Kerr might make his return for the upcoming game as well.
Then again, when your team has someone like Draymond Green going bonkers of late, maybe Curry’s services may not be needed after all. Green was the go-to guy for the Warriors in the OT win over the Nuggets, tallying his league-best sixth triple-double of the season behind jaw-dropping numbers of 29 points, 17 rebounds and 14 assists.
There’s also the other half of the Splash Brothers in Klay Thompson, who has a combined 64 points over the past two contests. With much more relative depth than Charlotte, count on the Dubs’ stellar supporting cast to pull enough weight and win on Monday. This should also give their leader ample time to rest his ailing shin before squaring up against their tougher opponents on the schedule ahead.
Writer’s Prediction
Bottom line: if Curry Starts for Golden State, bank on the Warriors without hesitation. If he doesn’t, expect the Hornets to at the very least cover the spread.
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