The Charlotte Hornets will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight at 7:30 pm EST. This will be Charlotte’s third and final matchup with LeBron James‘ squad and their second battle with them on the road.

Cleveland has had the upper hand so far in this series, leading the Hornets 2-0. Expect the Hornets to play an inspired game in order to avoid the season sweep. These two teams could find themselves playing against each other in the playoffs, so Charlotte will want a win to build off of.

This should be an interesting matchup given that both teams are coming in to this game relatively hot – and after disappointing starts, both teams need to stay hot.

After dropping six games in a row, the Cavs seem to have righted the ship and as a result, have won their previous four games. All four of those wins have come against teams with winning records, save for the L.A. Lakers that are currently a .500 ball club.

The Hornets are riding a hot streak of their own, having won eight of their last nine games. While their competition hasn’t been the most rigorous, Charlotte has looked significantly more convincing than they did earlier in the season. Most impressively, the Hornets were without either Al Jefferson or Kemba Walker (or both) for all of those games but one.

The matchup to watch in tonight’s game is without a doubt Michael Kidd-Gilchrist vs LeBron James. James has led his team in scoring in three of their past four games, averaging 30 points and seven rebounds in those contests. Kidd-Gilchrist is one of the top defenders in the league, so it should be an entertaining battle.

It’s also worth keeping an eye on the Cavs’ newest shooting guard, J.R. Smith. Since joining the team via trade, he has been averaging 14.6 points per game and nearly three three-pointers on 42 percent shooting.

In order to win, the Charlotte Hornets will need to display the effort that has made them the top defensive team in the league during the month of January.

While Charlotte’s offense has sputtered (more so than usual), they haven’t allowed a team to score more than 80 points in their last three games. The Cavs will by far be their toughest test defensively in a while, so it remains to be seen how the squad handles it.

Side note: while it’s VERY early to start looking at playoff implications, it’s still exciting to check out the standings. If the Hornets can get a win tonight and the Indiana Pacers beat the Miami Heat, Charlotte will move up to the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference. When you consider that the Hornets were the 12th seed at the start of the New Year, that’s actually pretty exciting.

Projected Starters:

Hornets

PG – Kemba Walker

SG – Gerald Henderson

SF – Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

PF – Cody Zeller

C – Al Jefferson

Cavaliers

PG – Kyrie Irving

SG – J.R. Smith

SF – LeBron James

PF – Kevin Love

C – Timofey Mozgov

Who will win tonight's game? Cavaliers

Hornets View Results