Charlotte @ Memphis preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 22, 2018 ) Memphis 79, Charlotte 140

If the Charlotte Hornets find themselves on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoffs this spring, their road record could be the reason. The Hornets will try to avoid another loss away from home when they continue a three-game trip by visiting the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.

Charlotte, which finishes the excursion at Milwaukee on Friday, was ripped 120-95 in the opener of the trip on Sunday at Indiana to fall to 6-16 on the road. "Our turnovers fueled a lot of their offense," Hornets coach James Borrego told reporters after the latest setback. "When we turned it over offensively, it just created points for them. We move on. We have to get better from this game. (We need to work on) our transition defense. We have to battle defensively. ... We'll be better." The Grizzlies dropped five of their last six home games and watched their overall slide reach six in a row with a demoralizing 105-85 home loss on Monday to a New Orleans Pelicans team that was missing superstar Anthony Davis. "My emotional state is steady," Grizzlies coach J.B. Bickerstaff told reporters. "We've got to do a better job as coaches of maintaining our guys' spirit. I think that is the difficult piece: those moments, again because of what has happened the past six weeks, we're kind of beat and we allow one play to impact the next play and then it impacts the next play."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Southeast (Charlotte, Memphis)

ABOUT THE HORNETS (22-24): Charlotte star guard Kemba Walker is averaging 26.2 points over the last five games and scored 23 on Sunday but did not get a lot of help as no other player scored more than 11 in the loss. Power forward Marvin Williams scored in double figures in three straight wins prior to Sunday but slumped to nine points on 3-of-13 shooting in the setback. Center Bismack Biyombo was a bright point in the loss while recording his second straight double-double and owns three double-doubles this month while starting in place of Cody Zeller (hand).

ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (19-28): Memphis lost 12 of its last 13 games and 17 of 20 and shot 37.5 percent from the floor on Monday while dropping its league-worst scoring average to 100.6 points. "Nobody's going to come and save us," point guard Mike Conley told reporters. "We have nobody coming in the door tomorrow that's going to change what we're doing. We've got guys down. We've got eight, nine, 10 guys that can suit up. We need everybody to find it in themselves to get us out of this thing." Conley leads the struggling offense at an average of 19.8 points and collected 20 points, eight assists and four steals on Monday.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Grizzlies C Marc Gasol scored 22 points in 35 minutes on Monday but is considered questionable for Wednesday due to back soreness.

2. Hornets SF Nicolas Batum is shooting 43.3 percent from 3-point range at home and 36.8 percent on the road.

3. Charlotte posted the largest win in franchise history with a 140-79 home drubbing of Memphis in the last meeting on March 22.

PREDICTION: Hornets 102, Grizzlies 97