The Indiana Pacers and Charlotte Hornets are set to face off against each other in the NBA’s first play-in game this year. Both teams are missing keys players due to injuries for this matchup, with Gordon Hayward being out for Charlotte and Myles Turner being out for Indiana. Unfortunately for the Pacers, they have a much longer injury list than the Hornets.
Currently, the Pacers are awaiting word on multiple key players and their statuses for the game. Malcolm Brogdon and Edmond Sumner are the two biggest names listed as questionable, while Aaron Holiday is also questionable. Jeremy Lamb is expected to miss the game and of course TJ Warren has been out most of the season due to a foot injury.
Despite the injury woes for Indiana, they are are a good basketball team and many believe this will be a hard-fought matchup. The Hornets feel very confident about their high-scoring back-court trio of LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier, and Devonte Graham, but they will have trouble dealing with Domantas Sabonis in the front-court.
One NBA scout spoke to NBA Analysis Network about the play-in matchup and weighed in with his thoughts. He started with the Pacers’ perspective on the game and them moved to the Hornets’ side of things.
“Malcolm Brogdon had some big games against the Hornets this season, so if he’s unable to give it a go, that will obviously hurt the Pacers. Caris LeVert will need to shoulder the load like he did for the Nets in the NBA Bubble when Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant were sidelined. He’ll have Domantas Sabonis on the inside to do damage since that will be a matchup problem for Charlotte downlow.”
“Myles Turner being out hurts the Pacers’ rim protection substantially. Pacers will not be able to be as aggressive running the Hornets’ shooters off-the-line and won’t have that backline support when Terry Rozier or LaMelo Ball get to the paint.”
“The Hornets will need to run the Pacers out of the gym with the speed advantage they have as a group. Cranking up the pace would avoid the Pacers making this a ‘grind it out’ slow pace game with Sabonis living in the paint.”
“Charlotte has a level of shooting that Indiana lacks. Without Turner to patrol the paint, the Hornets will be able to make spray outs to the 3-point line easier. Getting out in transition to get shots up from deep will be another important factor for them.”
Needless to say, this is going to be a very interesting game to watch. Both the Pacers and Hornets believe that they can still make the playoffs as the No. 8 seed. Whether or not that is really something to look forward to with the Philadelphia 76ers being the future matchup is another story.
This matchup should offer fans a lot of entertainment. The Pacers and Hornets are both young teams who have had their share of issues throughout the season. Being able to come out winners in this game would boost their confidence in a big way moving forward and they would take on the loser of the Boston Celtics vs. Washington Wizards play-in game.
Expect to see this game be very competitive and don’t expect either team to blow the other out. The Pacers may have more injury issues, but the Hornets have much less playoff level experience. It should be a good matchup.
