Pistons @ Hornets

Who will WIN this matchup?

Detroit Pistons (13-12)

@ Charlotte Hornets (13-13)

Current odds:

Detroit Pistons: (+185)

Charlotte Hornets: (-225)

• The line for this game is Charlotte by 5.5 points.

• The Charlotte Hornets are about to begin their longest homestand of the season and are hoping to use it as a springboard up the standings. The Hornets come into the stretch hot and will try to push their current winning streak to three straight when they host the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday. Charlotte’s scoring comes mostly from the backcourt, but the team was able to easily push aside New York in a 119-107 road win on Sunday thanks to its efforts on the inside, where it won the rebounding battle and outscored the Knicks 54-40 in the paint. 

• The Pistons are strong on the interior with center Andre Drummond and power forward Blake Griffin but are streaking in the wrong direction with five straight losses after rattling off wins in nine of the previous 11. “We are trying to get every bit of positive out of this stretch,” Detroit coach Dwane Casey told reporters. “This is the stretch from hell, but again this is going to make us a better team, closer together, tougher hopefully. It should make us tougher because this feeling doesn’t feel good and I told our players, ‘The only people who can pick ourselves out by the bootstraps are ourselves.'”

• Detroit gave Griffin a night off on Monday and added swingman Luke Kennard to the starting lineup, which proved to be one of the few bright spots. Kennard averaged 2.3 points in his first four games after missing 16 with a shoulder injury but broke out for a career-high 28 points on 11-of-18 shooting in 37 minutes on Monday. “I’ve been struggling since I got back,” Kennard told reporters. “My coaches and teammates told me to stay confident, stay aggressive, so that was my mindset coming into it. We knew we had some guys out, so we took the opportunity to just play hard and just try to get a rhythm back.”

• All-Star guard Kemba Walker (25.8 points) leads the team in scoring but backcourt mate Jeremy Lamb is beginning to assert himself and is averaging a career-best 15.1 points after scoring 19 on 8-of-12 shooting Sunday. “Lamb, he’s just getting more comfortable as a secondary ball handler,” Borrego told reporters. “He’s our second-leading scorer and getting to the rim. He’s scoring for us when we go dry at times.” Veteran point guard Tony Parker is coming off the bench behind Walker and Lamb and scored in double figures in four of the last five contests.

• Hornets C Cody Zeller went 5-of-5 from the floor on Sunday and is shooting 57.8 percent on the season.

• Pistons SG Reggie Bullock (ankle) and SF Stanley Johnson (knee) are questionable for Wednesday.

• Walker and Parker scored 24 points apiece in a 113-103 win at Detroit on Nov. 11.