By Sam Perley, hornets.com
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These games can be seen on FOX Sports Southeast and can be heard on WFNZ or the Official Charlotte Hornets app.
Key Matchup vs. Mavericks: Marvin Williams vs. Dirk Nowitzki
Perhaps no Hornets player has been a more pleasant surprise this season then forward Marvin Williams, although the former Tar Heel will have a challenging assignment on hand Thursday night when he matches up against Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks… Thrust into the starting lineup following the season-ending injury to Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the former number-two overall pick Williams has capitalized on the opportunity with early-season averages of 10.5 points and a team-high 9.3 rebounds through Charlotte’s first four games. Williams has certainly established himself as a multi-dimensional threat on both the scoring and rebounding fronts with two double-doubles already this year, after tallying just one the entire 2014-15 NBA campaign… Charlotte will need some more of Williams’ stellar play if it wants to break its 14-game road losing streak to the Dallas Mavericks, whose offense continues to revolve around future Hall of Famer, Dirk Nowitzki. Now in his 18th NBA season, Nowitzki averaged 17.3 points a game last year for Dallas, which was tied for his lowest scoring average in a season since his rookie year in 1998-99. Still, he remains one of the best perimeter shooting big men in the league after shooing 38.0 percent from three-point range last season, which was second-best amongst power forwards in the league with a minimum of 200 attempts… With plenty of gas still left in the tank for Nowitzki, the Hornets will likely need another big performance from Marvin Williams if they want to open their three-game Western Conference road trip with a win in Dallas.
Key Matchup vs. Spurs: Jeremy Lin vs. Manu Ginobili
One of the deciding factors in Charlotte’s Saturday night showdown in San Antonio could be the matchup between two high-volume shooters coming off the bench in the Hornets Jeremy Lin and the Spurs Manu Ginobili… Coming off a few challenging seasons with the Rockets and Lakers from 2012-15, Lin seems to have found his niche so far in Charlotte with his new Hornets teammates, posting averages of 12.8 points and 3.8 assists in 23.5 minutes off the bench for the Hornets. On the verge of a potential career rebirth, the Hornets are hoping for more of the same from Lin who will be tasked with guarding arguably the NBA’s premier bench scorer of the last 15 years in Manu Ginboili… At 38-years-old and now in his 14th NBA season, the shifty Ginobili continues to defy age with impressive averages of 10.8 points on 51.5 percent shooting from the field and a team-high 4.3 assists in 20.3 minutes off the bench for the Spurs. The veteran Ginobili also had Charlotte’s number last season as he burned the Hornets for 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting off the bench on Jan. 14, 2015, which finished as his second-highest scoring performance of the season… Both Jeremy Lin and Manu Ginobili are capable of bringing high-level energy off the bench for their respective teams although Lin might need to bring his defensive game to another level if he and the Hornets want to avoid watching the ageless Argentinian Ginobili go off again on the Hornets Saturday night in San Antonio.
Scouting the Hornets (1-3):
Charlotte notched its first victory of the 2015-16 NBA regular season with 130-105 home win over the Chicago Bulls on Nov. 3. Jeremy Lamb finished with a team-high 20 points to lead seven Hornets in double figures. This was also the most points Charlotte has scored in a regular season regulation game since a 130-96 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov. 15, 1997… Kemba Walker currently leads the Hornets in points (15.5), assists (5.3) and steals (1.25). Walker has also scored in double figures in all four games this season for Charlotte… Al Jefferson is averaging 12.8 points and 7.3 rebounds so far this season, which rank tied-for-fourth and third, respectively on the Hornets. Jefferson is also shooting 47.2 percent from the field, which is third-best on the team… Nicolas Batum is posting averages of 14.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists all of which are currently better than his career highs. Batum is also ranked tied-for-seventh in rebounding and fourth in assists amongst small forwards in the NBA… Marvin Williams is averaging 10.5 points and a team-high 9.5 rebounds this season for Charlotte. Williams has also connected on a 8-of-20 three-point attempts so far this season (40.0 percent)… Jeremy Lamb has shined off the bench this season with averages of 13.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and a team-high 1.33 blocks in his first three games as a Charlotte Hornet. Lamb also connected on 9-of-10 field-goal attempts in Charlotte’s 130-105 win over Chicago on Nov. 3 and currently leads the team with a 58.6 field-goal percentage… Jeremy Lin is also scoring in double figures off the bench for the Hornets this season with 12.8 points along with 3.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists, the latter of which ranks third on the team… Cody Zeller is averaging 6.0 points on 45.0 percent shooting from the field along with 6.0 rebounds in 21.5 minutes off the bench this season. Zeller is also pulling down 2.3 offensive rebounds a game, which is second-best on the team… Charlotte is currently tied-for-11th in the NBA in points per game (102.5) and is 14th in points allowed (100.0)… the Hornets are allowing a NBA-low 5.8 offensive rebounds a game this season and are seventh in the league in total rebounding differential (+6.7)… Charlotte is also tied with Dallas for fewest average turnovers surrendered this season (11.5) and is seventh in team assists (23.0)… The Hornets are currently tied with Oklahoma City for the second-best three-point percentage in the NBA (40.4 percent). Only Golden State (41.4 percent) is shooting better from behind the arch in the league right now.
Scouting the Mavericks (2-2):
The Mavericks won both games against the Hornets last season and have won 24 of the last 26 meetings overall with Charlotte… The Hornets have lost 14-consecutive road games to the Mavericks, which is a streak that began on Jan. 24, 1998… Dirk Nowitzki is averaging 17.5 points on a team-best 56.3 percent shooting from the field and 8.0 rebounds. The 18-year NBA veteran is also shooting 8-of-13 from three-point range (61.5 percent)… After offseason knee surgery, forward Chandler Parsons is slowly being eased back into the Mavericks’ rotation with averages of 5.5 points on 33.3 percent shooting, 2.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 13.0 minutes through two games this season for Dallas… Also returning from injury is the newly-acquired Wes Matthews. Matthews, who tore his left Achilles tendon on Mar. 5 as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers, is averaging 9.0 points on 9-of-24 shooting (37.5 percent), which includes 6-of-15 from three-point range (40.0 percent) in three games this season for Dallas… Deron Williams is posting averages of 12.0 points on 40.0 percent shooting, 3.3 rebounds and a team-high 6.3 assists in his first three games as a Dallas Maverick… Zaza Pachulia is averaging 8.5 points and a team-high 9.3 rebounds although is shooting just 30.0 percent from the field so far this season… Dwight Powell has averaged 9.8 points on 44.4 percent shooting and 8.0 rebounds in 21.8 minutes off the bench this season for Dallas. Powell was included in the Rajon Rondo trade the Mavericks made with the Boston Celtics in December 2014… Mavericks’ opponents are shooting just 27.4 percent from three-point range this season, which is tied with Miami for fourth-lowest in the league right now…
Dallas lost Monta Ellis (Indiana), Tyson Chandler (Phoenix), Rajon Rondo (Sacramento), Amar’e Stoudemire (Miami) and Al-Farouq Aminu (Portland) to offseason free agency… the Mavericks signed Deron Williams (Brooklyn), Wesley Matthews (Portland), Zaza Pachulia (Milwaukee), JaVale McGee (Philadelphia), Jeremy Evans (Utah), John Jenkins (Atlanta) and Salah Mejri (Spain’s Real Madrid) all via free agency in the offseason… Dallas drafted guard Justin Anderson out of the University of Virginia with the 21st overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft… Raymond Felton played in Charlotte from 2005-2010… Al Jefferson was teammates with Jeremy Evans (2010-13), Deron Williams (2010-11) and Devin Harris (2011-12) on the Utah Jazz… Marvin Williams also played with Evans in Utah from 2012-14 and Zaza Pachulia in Atlanta from 2005-2012… Nicolas Batum and Wesley Matthews were teammates in Portland from 2010-15…Dwight Powell was drafted by the Hornets with the 45th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft and was subsequently traded twice before ending up on the Boston Celtics.
Scouting the Spurs (3-1):
San Antonio won both meetings with the Hornets last season… Charlotte has lost nine-straight overall games to the Spurs (last win: Jan. 15, 2010) and eight-straight in San Antonio (last win: Nov. 15, 2006)… Kawhi Leonard is leading the Spurs in points (21.3), rebounds (9.3), steals (2.25) and blocks (2.0)…San Antonio’s biggest offseason acquisition, LaMarcus Aldridge, is second on the team in scoring (16.0) and rebounding (9.0). The former Texas Longhorn has also posted two double-doubles in San Antonio’s first four games of the season… Tim Duncan comes in right behind Aldridge in both categories with the third-most points (11.0) and rebounds (8.3) per game this season for the Spurs…Tony Parker is also scoring in double figures with 10.5 points along with 2.8 assists a game… Manu Ginobili has scored in double figures in three out of San Antonio’s four games this season, averaging 10.8 points and a team-high 4.3 assists in 20.3 minutes off the bench… San Antonio is allowing just 89.5 points a game this season, which is the second-lowest of any team in the NBA… Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili set the NBA record for most career wins by a threesome in NBA history (541) with their 95-87 win over the Boston Celtics on Nov. 1. One day later, Duncan notched his 954th career win with the Spurs in San Antonio’s 94-84 win over the New York Knicks, which also set a new NBA record for most wins by one player with a single team in NBA history… San Antonio added LaMarcus Aldridge (Portland), David West (Indiana) and Boban Marjanovic (Serbia’s KK Crvena zvezda) via free agency in the offseason… Marco Belinelli (Sacramento), Cory Joseph (Toronto) and Aron Baynes (Detroit) all departed San Antonio in the offseason to sign with other teams…The Spurs also acquired Ray McCallum from the Sacramento Kings in exchange for a 2016 second-round draft pick and traded Tiago Splitter to the Atlanta Hawks for the draft rights to Georgios Printezis and a future second-round draft pick… Nicolas Batum and LaMarcus Aldridge were teammates in Portland from 2008-15… Batum, Tony Parker and Boris Diaw are all members of the French national basketball team. Diaw also played for Charlotte from 2008-12… Tyler Hansbrough and Danny Green were teammates on the University of North Carolina’s NCAA National Championship team in 2009. Hansbrough also played with David West on the Indiana Pacers from 2011-13.