Charlotte Hornets at New York Knicks Preview

Game time: 7:30pm

Where: Madison Square Garden - New York City, New York

TV: Fox Sports South and  MSG Network

The Hornets travel to New York to take on a bad Knicks team. This is a game the Hornets should win, as long as Carmelo Anthony doesn't score 60 points again.

The Knicks aren't a very good team. They have a new coach, are trying to initiate a new system, and besides Melo, don't have anybody that's going to change a game by themselves. Amar'e Stoudemire's prime is well past him. STAT is no longer the dominating forward he once was, and is more a liability for the Knicks at this point than a value. He has moments that remind many of what he once was, but those days are gone. The Knicks still have some quality role players like Imain Shumpert and Jose Calderon. But Calderon is injured and Shumpert is really nothing more than a quality three and d player.

I'm not sure what to expect from the Hornets offense, because so far this season, they haven't ran much of what they did last year. They still run Kemba Walker off ball, and they still have Al Jefferson posting up, but everything else I don't really recognize. It's gonna take some time to figure out what their strategy is. I'm not sure they even know themselves, as they've struggled a bit here early in the season.

While the Hornets should win tonight, there are reasons to believe they could lose. For starters, they're on a back to back after a rough game against Memphis. The Grizzlies are a team that pounds you all night long, and the effects of that game will leak into tonight. There's also the Melo factor. Anthony is good enough to explode on any night. He's done it against Charlotte before, the threat of him doing it again is always there.

The Hornets should win, but the result is definitely not a given, especially when taking into consideration early season play, a back to back on the road, and the Knicks having the best player on the floor.