{"id":693968,"date":"2026-04-02T14:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/693968\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T14:00:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:00:22","slug":"hornets-out-looking-for-revenge-against-phoenix-suns-earn-season-split","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/693968\/","title":{"rendered":"Hornets Out Looking for Revenge Against Phoenix Suns, Earn Season Split"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Charlotte Hornets<\/a> didn’t play yesterday, yet they came out as winners. Because both the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic lost their respective games, the Hornets climbed to 8th in the Eastern Conference Standings.<\/p>\n

The Play-In Picture<\/p>\n

Record<\/p>\n

Games Back<\/p>\n

5. Atlanta Hawks<\/p>\n

44-33<\/p>\n

0<\/p>\n

6. Philadelphia 76ers<\/p>\n

42-34<\/p>\n

1.5<\/p>\n

7. Toronto Raptors<\/p>\n

42-34<\/p>\n

1.5<\/p>\n

8. Charlotte Hornets<\/p>\n

40-36<\/p>\n

3.5<\/p>\n

9. Orlando Magic<\/p>\n

40-36<\/p>\n

3.5<\/p>\n

10. Miami Heat<\/p>\n

40-37<\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Tonight, they’re the only Eastern Conference play-in team in action, so there’s a chance to exert pressure on the competition with a win. It will be anything but easy, though:<\/p>\n

Tonight’s opponent: The Phoenix Suns (42-34 | 7th in the West)\"Phoenix<\/p>\n

Apart from his rough three-point percentage (32.7%), Devin Booker is having a great season as the Suns’ lead guard. | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

After subverting expectations in the Kevin Durant era, the Phoenix Suns have flipped the script this year and are now very much overachieving in regard to their projected results.<\/p>\n

Subtracting Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal while adding Dillon Brooks, Jalen Green, and Mark Williams to the team has paid off big time, as well as the coaching change from Mike Budenholzer to Jordan Ott over the summer.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Suns ranked 25th in three-point attempts per game. But under Ott, they have adapted a much more Pick-and-Roll heavy game plan, similar to that of the Hornets in some ways. Coincidentally, they are now 5th in threes per game and regularly shoot opponents out of the building.<\/p>\n

The Hornets had to learn that the hard way on March 8th. A Suns team that was missing Brooks, Williams, and Grayson Allen unexpectedly blew Charlotte out 111-99. <\/p>\n

That defeat came in large part due to the hot hands of Collin Gillespie and rookie Rasheer Fleming, as well as a 30-point, 10-assist double-double by Devin Booker.<\/p>\n

Phoenix will be healthier tonight then it was back then, although the first return of Mark Williams to Spectrum Center is still up in the air:<\/p>\n

The Injury Report:<\/p>\n

Charlotte Hornets:\u00a0OUT\u00a0– Liam McNeeley & Tidjane Sala\u00fcn (G-League)<\/p>\n

Phoenix Suns:\u00a0OUT\u00a0– Amir Coffey (L Ankle), Haywood Highsmith (R Knee)\u00a0QUESTIONABLE\u00a0– Mark Williams (L Foot)<\/p>\n

Key to the Game: Control Booker and Gillespie<\/p>\n

Devin Booker and Collin Gillespie conduct the Suns’ offense like a director conducts an orchestra. Sure, there are a couple of players (Brooks, Green, Allen) who are also dangerous and can go off here and there, but usually it’s all about Booker and Gillespie setting them up.<\/p>\n

As written previously, the Suns like to run a lot of Pick-and-Roll, mostly to get the ball handler going. You can live with Jalen Green being in that spot because he’s a notoriously inefficient scorer and also not much of a playmaker.<\/p>\n

Booker, while not a great shooter from distance, is a way better passer, overall more efficient than Green, and also one of the best when it comes to drawing fouls. <\/p>\n

Gillespie, on the other hand, poses almost no danger inside the arc, but shoots a great three-ball from anywhere while being a decent enough assist giver.<\/p>\n

The Hornets had major problems guarding the Celtics’ Pick-and-Roll actions with Tatum and Pritchard on Sunday. They must find someone who can hold their own defensively in those situations to beat Phoenix.<\/p>\n

Projected Starting Lineups<\/p>\n

Charlotte Hornets<\/p>\n

Phoenix Suns<\/p>\n

Point Guard<\/p>\n

LaMelo Ball<\/p>\n

Collin Gillespie<\/p>\n

Shooting Guard<\/p>\n

Kon Knueppel<\/p>\n

Devin Booker<\/p>\n

Small Forward<\/p>\n

Brandon Miller<\/p>\n

Jalen Green<\/p>\n

Power Forward<\/p>\n

Miles Bridges<\/p>\n

Dillon Brooks<\/p>\n

Center<\/p>\n

Moussa Diabat\u00e9<\/p>\n

Oso Ighodaro<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter for the latest news and updates on the Charlotte Hornets<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Charlotte Hornets didn’t play yesterday, yet they came out as winners. Because both the Miami Heat and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3779],"tags":[7,48,6,47,76,3883],"class_list":{"0":"post-693968","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando-magic","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-magic","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-orlando","12":"tag-orlando-magic","13":"tag-orlandomagic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116335479419502613","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}