Utah Jazz vs. Charlotte Hornets: Keys to the Game

The Utah Jazz will look to avenge their earlier loss to the Charlotte Hornets when the teams face off tonight in Salt Lake City.

In just their second game in seven days, the Utah Jazz will host the Charlotte Hornets tonight as they go head-to-head for the second and final time of the season. The first time these two teams met, the Jazz were thoroughly outmatched in the fourth quarter by Charlotte point guard Kemba Walker and ultimately fell 104-98.

In the contest in which George Hill was absent, the Hornets’ recently named first-time All-Star proved to be too much for the Jazz to handle. However, this time around, it’s possible that there will be a complete switch in the script. While Hill is of course expected to play, reports surfaced yesterday that Walker missed Friday’s practice and is questionable for tonight’s contest.

While his absence would drastically increase Utah’s chances of winning considering how important of a player Kemba is to his team and how well he’s played against the Jazz of late, it would honestly be a bit disappointing to have to miss out on a Hill-Walker battle once again.

Nevertheless, with or without Kemba Walker, the Hornets possess an array of talented players including the likes of Nicolas Batum and Marvin Williams, so the Jazz will have to be alert and ready to play a solid game.

Yet while the Hornets got off to an incredible start this season, they have definitely struggled since and will be coming into tonight’s game on a six-game losing streak. Thus the puttering Charlotte team will most certainly be hungry for a win and ready to push the Jazz to the limit.

Therefore, if the Jazz hope to avoid a similar result as the last time they played against the Hornets, they will have to be much more buttoned up and play a dominant game just like they did against Milwaukee on Wednesday.