Arematch of the most heated game of the NBA season, the Charlotte Hornets play their final home game of the year tonight, and have unfinished business with the Detroit Pistons. Detroit has the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference locked up, while the Hornets are still fighting for a chance at sixth place in the East.

Both Teams Are Fully Healthy

As of right now, the Hornets and Pistons come into this game at full strength, for Charlotte, Coby White returns after missing the Hornets road game against the Boston Celtics, which is huge for Charlotte, White gives Charlotte a scoring spark off the bench, and most importantly keeps the offense flowing when LaMelo Ball is on the bench, which was noticeably a struggle in the recent loss to the Celtics where it felt like Ball was keeping Charlotte afloat by himself at times.

As for Detroit, star PG Cade Cunningham is back from his collapsed lung injury and is playing his second game since returning tonight. Normally in a game like tonight, where the Pistons aren’t playing for anything, there’d be a better chance of Cade not playing, but since he’s missed just around a month of basketball, its smart for Detroit to play him and continue to get his legs back under him as the NBA Playoffs are right around the corner.

Keys to Victory: Win the Rebounding Battle

While the margin wasn’t too large last game, Charlotte did lose the battle of the boards, and lost in the offensive rebounds battle as well. Moussa Diabate has to keep Pistons C Jalen Duren off the glass, make life hard for him, and do it while not getting into an all-out brawl like they did last time.

Ryan Kalkbrenner has been a bright spot for Charlotte this season, but he can struggle to rebound at times. He has to clean the glass well tonight when he’s on the court. In the last matchup against Detroit, Kalkbrenner finished with just four rebounds, and that’s with extra minutes since Diabate was ejected from the game.

Keys to Victory: Balanced Offensive Attack

In Charlotte’s last game against Detroit and in their last game against the Celtics, the Hornets offense was top-heavy. LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Kon Knueppel did their jobs for the most part, but the supporting cast didn’t, and that has to change for Charlotte to get a statement win tonight.

In the February 9 loss against Detroit, Ball, Miller, and Knueppel combined for 64 points; the rest of the roster combined for 40. That can’t happen tonight if Charlotte wants to get out of the ninth seed. Obviously Charlotte lives off the three-point shot, they have to get contributions from long range from everyone, and if the Hornets can get back to that 20 three-pointers made mark, they’ll give themselves a real chance against a tough Detroit team.

Keys to Victory: Charlotte Has to Win Out

Charlotte currently sits at the ninth seed, meaning they’ll play a home game in the Play-In but have to win twice to secure the eighth seed. The Hornets need to at least reach the 8th seed so they have two chances to win one game to secure a playoff spot, rather than having to win two games to get in.

The Orlando Magic are the team to watch for Charlotte. They play the Bulls tonight, which they’ll win because the Bulls are tanking, but then Orlando plays the Boston Celtics on the road, and the Celtics are going to play all their guys because they’re still playing for seeding. The Hornets own the tiebreaker against Orlando, so that’s the team for Charlotte fans to root against the most in this last stretch of the season, while also just needing the Hornets to win out against the Pistons and Knicks.