NBA Matchups: January 7

What a ridiculous slate, and injuries are going to shape it. I’ll hit the macros and mix in some of the important matchups along the way. There is so much injury news with six teams on the back end of a B2B, and even three teams on the front end.

TOR @ CHA | CHI @ DET | WAS @ PHI | DEN @ BOS | NOP @ ATL | ORL @ BKN | LAC @ NYK | PHX @ MEM | UTA @ OKC | LAL @ SAS | MIL @ GSW | HOU @ POR

Toronto Raptors at Charlotte Hornets (front end)

Team Totals: Raptors 116.3, Hornets 113.8

Injury Report: Moussa Diabate (P, wrist), Ryan Kalkbrenner (O, elbow), Tidjane Salaun (Q, ankle), Brandon Miller (P, knee)

Raptors projected starters: Immanuel Quickley, R.J. Barrett, Brandon Ingram, Scottie Barnes, Collin Murray-Boyles

Hornets projected starters: LaMelo Ball, Kon Knueppel, Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges, Moussa Diabate

Darko quotes: Said they had impressive ball movement against the Hawks, said their goal was to have a 0-0 mentality to start every quarter, said CMB is “doing impressive things for us” and they don’t want to try to box him in anymore, said he won’t really draw up plays for CMB because he has so many strong playmakers in the first unit, said CMB has great hands, said Mamu isn’t in a slump and he’s getting good looks overall that he’s not making, said Dick is playing well and he was “putting himself in the right position to make plays,” said they do not talk about the playoffs/standings, said BI is just a team player for them.

Lee quotes: Said they were very physical with their defense against the Thunder, said Sion James was the Player of the Game because he plays so hard.

Stats and Notes: 

*Both of these teams are playing well, especially the Raptors on the defensive end. They’ve been excellent at keeping teams in the halfcourt, and the Hornets are not running at all this year at 26th in transition points. They’re continuing their ways of doubling, and their rim defense has held up lately even without Jakob Poeltl. On the year, they’re up to fourth in defensive rating, and only three players all season have averaged more than 30 PPG against them (Austin Reaves 44, Stephen Curry 39, and Kevin Durant 31). It’s about as tough as it gets for lead guys. For the Hornets on defense, they just played two excellent games against the Bulls and Thunder. Both teams just missed a lot of shots, and there’s no real trend there for the Hornets’ defense (29th in halfcourt D on year, 21st overall). The on-ball Raptors should cook against the Hornets. 

*The matchups set up pretty well for Brandon Ingram and Immanuel Quickley with Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball on them, respectively. These teams have played each other three times, and IQ has been the team’s leading scorer at 22.7 PPG). Scottie Barnes does get the tougher 1-on-1 matchup against Miles Bridges, but the Hornets are a little more vulnerable at the basket. There’s plenty to like on the TOR side.

*For the Hornets, Miles Bridges has been the team’s leading scorer against the Raptors despite Scottie guarding him (he played 37.3 MPG). This matchup isn’t great for him, but it’s even worse for LaMelo with the way the Raptors trap handlers so much. The matchup should be very good for Brandon Miller, and the minutes are way up for him.

Great matchups: Immanuel Quickley, Brandon Miller

Good matchups: Brandon Ingram, Scottie Barnes

Bad matchups: LaMelo Ball

Chicago Bulls (front end) at Detroit Pistons