Utah Jazz vs. Charlotte Hornets: Keys to the Game

Key Match-up – Gordon Hayward and Nicolas Batum

Make no mistake about it, if Kemba Walker was definitely going to be healthy and play in this game, then the contest between he and George Hill would be the key match-up. Kemba has shouldered the load to lead the Hornets to several victories and, as I mentioned before, has played exceptionally well against the Jazz.

Just last season, he dropped a career-high 52 points against Utah and has continually given them problems in several contests.

Yet, due to the fact that he is questionable to play tonight, I’m going to go with what would be the second most important match-up anyway as the key battle in the game – Gordon Hayward and Nicolas Batum.

Batum is the Hornets’ second-leading scorer at 14.9 points per game and is also putting up 7.3 rebounds and a career-high six assists per contest. While he’s often heralded as a knockdown shooter, Batum is actually shooting just 40.3 percent from the field and 35.1 percent from deep, both of which leave quite a lot to be desired.

Nevertheless, he’s more than capable of catching fire and going off at any time, so Gordon Hayward will have to be on his game against Batum. While Hayward may very well be matched up against forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist for a significant portion of the game, it’s probable that Gordon will be tasked with covering Batum who’s a much greater offensive threat.

And both Kidd-Gilchrist and Batum are solid defenders so Hayward will have to work hard to get past the two of them and put up a better offensive game than Batum.

Especially if Kemba does end up sitting this one out, Batum will shoulder a much bigger load and it will be critical that Hayward shut him down defensively and find a way to overcome a staunch Hornets defense to lead his team to victory.