Hornets Extra - Preseason Edition: Pistons vs. Hornets

Preseason Game #4: Detroit Pistons(2-1) vs. Charlotte Hornets(2-1)

Time Warner Cable Arena

Wednesday, 11:00 a.m.

NOTE: Game will not be broadcast on radio locally, it will be streamed on hornets.com and on the Hornets mobile app

The Charlotte Hornets will continue their preseason slate, and wrapping up their brief 3-game preseason homestand on Wednesday morning with an 11:00 a.m. start against the Detroit Pistons in the annual Cool School Field Trip game for elementary and middle school students.  Charlotte is coming off a dramatic, yet thrilling win over the Orlando Magic last night at "The Hive" by a 99-97 margin, while the Pistons enter the game with a 2-1 mark, and losing to Washington 91-89.  Both teams look for their third win of the preseason tomorrow morning, as they continue to gear up for the start of their respective seasons in less than 2 weeks from now.

Scouting the Pistons

Coming into Wednesday morning's game, Detroit enters the game with a 2-1 preseason record, with both of their preseason wins coming against the Chicago Bulls and the Milwaukee Bucks, while their lone loss of the preseason came against Washington.  Detroit will be without Jodie Meeks, who is out with a stress reaction of the lower back, meaning that he'll be out for approximately eight weeks, while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is out with a left-knee strain, meaning that he will miss tomorrow's game against the Hornets and games against Orlando and Atlanta later in the week.  The Pistons hope these two players will be at full strength in the early stages of the season, while the rest of the team is looking for a solid outing in their road contest with the Charlotte Hornets tomorrow morning.

Scouting the Hornets

The Charlotte Hornets made their long-awaited preseason home debut at "The Hive" on Monday night, as they battled back to come away with a 99-97 win over the Orlando Magic, behind a strong outing from Jannero Pargo off the bench for Charlotte, as he had 16 points off the bench, while Al Jefferson led the way with 20 points, despite having just three rebounds on the night for the Hornets in the victory.

The game has been designated as a "Cool School Field Trip" game for middle school students throughout North and South Carolina.  The theme for the second straight year is "Too Cool to Bully", as they will focus on the dangers of bullying and how the students can do to prevent it from happening.

Upcoming Hornets preseason game schedule(Home games in Purple, Road games in Teal)

Friday: Charlotte @ Washington Wizards(7:00 p.m.)
Sunday: Charlotte @ Chicago Bulls(7:00 p.m.)
Monday: Charlotte @ Atlanta Hawks(7:30 p.m.)
October 23rd: Indiana Pacers @ Charlotte(7:00 p.m.)

NOTE: All Hornets preseason games(with the exception of Wednesday's game) can be heard locally on flagship station WFNZ-AM(610 The Fan) and throughout the Carolinas on the Hornets Radio Network, or on the Hornets mobile app.

Hornets Extra - Preseason Edition Recap: Hornets 99, Magic 97

97

99



Tonight at Time Warner Cable Arena, fans got their first look at the Charlotte Hornets for the first time since 2002 in preseason action as they took on the Orlando Magic in their third of eight preseason games leading up to the October 29th season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks.  After trailing for most of the final 2 quarters of action, the Hornets looked to Jannero Pargo to make a late push, and it would easily pay off for Charlotte as they would defeat the Magic 99-97 to go to 2-1 on the preseason, while Orlando dropped to 2-1 as well.

It was a tale of two halves for both squads, as the Hornets would enter the half with a 57-50 edge, but in the third, the Magic would claw their way back into the game and would have a comfortable edge, but entering the 4th quarter, it would be Pargo's time to shine for the Hornets, as he would get some good praise from Steve Clifford on his solid play in the quarter to lead the Charlotte comeback to get the win.  "I was going to go back with Roberts with five or six minutes left, but Jannero was playing so well." quoted Clifford, and Pargo did played well indeed, finishing up with 16 points off the bench for the Hornets, who shot 42.6% from the field in the win.  

Leading the way was "Big Al" Jefferson with 20 points for Charlotte, despite grabbing down just 3 rebounds on the night, while Michael Kidd-Gilchrist chipped in 14 and Kemba Walker added 11 points.  Finishing up the group of double-figure scorers for Charlotte was Gary Neal, who had 10 off the bench for the Hornets in tonight's win.

Orlando was led in scoring by Ben Gordon, who came back to Charlotte and lit up his former team with 17 points to lead the way for the Magic, which shot 44.6% from the field in the loss. Elfrid Payton and Tobias Harris each scored 14 points and Nikola Vucevic rounded out the Magic's group of double-figure scorers with 10.

The next Hornets preseason game will come on Wednesday morning at 11:00 a.m., as Charlotte takes on the Detroit Pistons in the annual Cool School Field Trip game for middle school students.