Tyson Chandler vs. Emeka OkaforAfter going 0-3 on their homestand, the Hornets are back on the road again with a stop in Charlotte this evening. Game tipping at 6 Central.

The Bobcats are 24-24 on the season, but they've been outstanding at home, boasting an 18-5 record and holding opponents to NBA lows in points per game (90.6) and effective field goal percentage (46.2). Kevin Arnovitz showed why Charlotte are so good defensively on TrueHoop a few weeks back.

The Bobcats are coming off a six-game West coast road trip which saw them go 3-3. On Wednesday they lost 97-99 to the Lakers, despite 30 points on 16 shots from Stephen Jackson. All-Star Gerald Wallace did not play in L.A. due to a hamstring injury, but is expected to play against the Hornets.

This will be the first meeting of the Hornets and Bobcats since the Chandler-Okafor trade last summer. Okafor has yet to miss a game this season and is averaging 11.3 points and 9.6 rebounds, while Chandler has played just 25 games due to a foot injury and is averaging 6.6 points and 7 rebounds. Don't get your hopes up for a battle of those bigs tonight though: Tyson has not played since December, and while he did practice fully yesterday he remains on the inactive list for tonight's game.

No word yet on whether Marcus Thornton (lower back contusion) will return to action for the Hornets tonight. Hopefully so, because they'll need all the help they can get trying to put points on the board against these Bobcats.

Numbers:

Pace: Bobcats 93.2 (27th), Hornets 94.3 (20th)
Offensive Efficiency: Bobcats 100.7 (25th), Hornets 104.8 (14th)
Defensive Efficiency: Bobcats 100.0 (4th), Hornets 105.7 (19th)

Linkage:

(Many thanks to Dariusz for today's banner featuring Matt Bullard, who played 31 games for the Hornets back in 2001-02 and is now an announcer with the Rockets. Be sure to check out more of Dariusz's designs in our Wallpapers vault.)