It's a bit of an early Christmas present as Memo will be back in the lineup tonight as the Jazz take on the Hornets to start their four-game road trip. He'll be limited to about 5-10 minutes but I'm looking forward to Money again. I don't expect we'll see any post-ups or drives from him tonight but having him out there for a bit with the second unit gives us another shooter we desperately need.
As far as the game goes, the Hornets are in a big funk right now. After starting 11-1, they're 4-9 with those wins coming over Portland, Charlotte, Detroit, and Sacramento. They had to have a record-breaking comeback to beat the Kings, being down 23 points at one point.
Their offense is the primary blame for their struggles. They're ranked 23rd in the league in offensive efficiency at 103.3. In their last 8 games, they scoring just 87 points a contest. Even with their slow pace, that's a struggle. They're shooting just 42% from the field and 31% from three.
Let's hope that trend continues tonight and the Jazz start this road trip off right.