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The Charlotte Hornets play the Utah Jazz at Spectrum Center tonight in their first game since Dec. 4 with head coach Steve Clifford on the sidelines. Stephen Silas got the team rolling over the last couple of weeks, but now that Cliff's back, Silas can return to his post as lead assistant.
The Hornets have split their last 10 games--a much-needed improvement since earlier this year--but if they're to make the playoffs they need to start stringing together long, meaningful win streaks. The Jazz, without their most important player, are an excellent target to rectify Wednesday's awful loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
As usual, you can watch tonight's game live on Fox Sports Southeast or League Pass and listen live with WFNZ 610 AM or WFNZ 102.5 FM.
Here are this evening's projected starters:
| Hornets | Position | Jazz |
| Kemba Walker | PG | Ricky Rubio |
| Nicolas Batum | SG | Donovan Mitchell |
| Michael Kidd-Gilchrist | SF | Thabo Sefolosha |
| Marvin Williams | PF | Joe Ingles |
| Dwight Howard | C | Derrick Favors |
Cliff's back! Nada on Cody Zeller, yet. For the Jazz, Rudy Gobert, Dante Exum, and Raul Neto are out. The Jazz are playing with their rotation a bit so it's entirely possible I butchered the projected starters.
Tip-off's at 7 p.m. EST.
Hop on down to the comments to chat about tonight's game!