In tonight's cross-Conference matchup, we will see Charlotte Hornets hosting Golden State Warriors at Spectrum Center, in hopes to bounce back after a terrible defeat against Brooklyn Nets on Sunday.

Charlotte Hornets are currently 8th in the East with a 28-31 record and a 2-3 record in their last 5 games. In the course of those 5 games, Hornets have managed to win against Atlanta Hawks (120:129), Washington Wizards (123:110), however, they failed to do the same against Indiana Pacers (99:90), Orlando Magic (127:89) and most recently Brooklyn Nets (115:117). Looking at the match against Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets were outscored in the 1st quarter and were trailing the visiting up until the last quarter. Nets managed to get a 14 point lead by the end of the 1st quarter, which they managed to hold on to until the start of the 4th quarter when Hornets caught up and even held an 8 point lead. However, Nets once again managed to catch up to Hornets in a highly entertaining end of the match. The teams were exchanging the lead in the final minute, however, in the end, it was Brooklyn Nets who ended up on top and won by 2 points. Final score: 115:117.

The visiting side today, Golden State Warriors are sitting at the top of the Western Conference with a 42-17 record, however, they have underperformed in the 2 out of the last 3 games, which makes me wonder how well will they perform in the upcoming match. Looking at their last 3 games, Warriors lost to Portland Trail Blazers (129:107), barely won the next match against Sacramento Kings (125:123) and lost the match against Houston Rockets on Sunday (112:118), despite the fact Houston were missing their star player, Harden. The recent matches are not giving me much hope that Golden State are as good as they can be, and with 2-5 record in the last 7 games, Warriors surely won't come into the next match as confident as they should be.

The last time these two sides met was during the Summer, which means this will be the 1st H2H match between Charlotte Hornets and Golden State Warriors this season. Coming into this match, Golden State will miss Daymond Green alongside Jones who has been out since December. On the other side, Hornets will have a full squad available to play against Warriors. With poor performances of GSW in recent matches, I am highly sceptical this match will be as easy for them to win as bookmakers seem to believe. While Hornets are not among the best teams in the league, nor do they have a good record behind them, Hornets are still able to score plenty of points against whomever they play against. On the other side, their poor defence is the cause they are not higher up the leaderboards. I expect a match where Warriors control the pace, which should result in a high paced match and of course plenty of scoring opportunities on both sides, especially with Daymond Green out for the Warriors. In conclusion, this match should end in high numbers with both teams doing their part in scoring the points.

Prediction: Over 233.50 points