Golden State @ Charlotte preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 2, 2019 ) Charlotte 93, Golden State 87

The annual trip to Charlotte is usually a time to celebrate All-Star guard and North Carolina native Stephen Curry in front of his family as the Golden State Warriors march toward another top seed in the Western Conference. This year will be much different, with Curry sitting out as the West-worst Warriors visit the Hornets on Wednesday.

Golden State was crushed 104-79 by the Atlanta Hawks on Monday to fall to 4-18 - the worst record in the NBA - and looks nothing like the juggernaut that dominated the league behind Curry (broken hand) and Klay Thompson (knee) over the last five seasons. "I thought we were playing for ourselves out there, instead of playing for each other," Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters after Monday's loss. "We were trying to dribble through traffic instead of moving the ball. Everybody was trying to make a play, instead of letting the next guy make the play, and we just got frustrated. We didn't have any kind of rhythm or flow to the game." The Hornets dropped their last two games but put up more of a fight in Monday's 109-104 home loss to Phoenix than they did in a 137-96 setback at Milwaukee on Saturday. Charlotte lost seven of its last nine games and is six games under .500 but already owns a win over Golden State with a 93-87 road win on Nov. 2.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBCS Bay Area (Golden State), FS Southwest (Charlotte)

ABOUT THE WARRIORS (4-18): Rookie forward Eric Paschall scored 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting on Monday, but the rest of the team managed 55 points on 33.3 percent shooting as Draymond Green sat out to rest on the second night of a back-to-back. Golden State has dropped its last three games and 13 of 15, and Monday marked the third time in the last seven games that the team fell by at least 17 points. "It wears on you, and you want those efforts to be rewarded," Kerr told reporters. "You have to keep the faith, and you just have to keep fighting, and that's my job to keep their spirits up and turn it around."

ABOUT THE HORNETS (8-14): Reserve shooting guard Dwayne Bacon scored a season-high 25 points in the win at Golden State on Nov. 2 but scored in double figures only once in the following 10 contests. Bacon is one of several players struggling to find consistency for Charlotte, which has had eight different players lead the team in scoring. Veteran forward Marvin Williams scored a team-high 22 points on 5-of-8 shooting - 10-of-10 from the line - in 31 minutes off the bench to snap a string of four straight games scoring in single digits.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Warriors PF Kevon Looney (hamstring) returned from a 20-game absence on Monday and managed two points, two rebounds and two blocks in 15 minutes.

2. Hornets SG Nicolas Batum (hand) left Monday's game and is day-to-day.

3. Golden State PG D'Angelo Russell (thumb) is traveling with the team and could return during the five-game trip.

PREDICTION: Hornets 108, Warriors 98