NEW ORLEANS, LA — It will be a family affair when the Charlotte Hornets and the New Orleans Pelicans battle each other in the NBA on Friday night.
ESPN will provide the live nationally broadcasting coverage, with Fox Sports Southeast – Charlotte and Fox Sports New Orleans covering the action locally. WatchESPN and the ESPN App are also streaming the action. Game time is 7:30 PM ET and New Orleans starts as the 7.0 point favorite.
The Smoothie King Center welcomes the showdown between brothers LaMelo Ball and Lonzo and all eyes will be glued to the television and streaming devices to see who will come out on top.
The brothers are used to battling each other in friendly contests on a concrete court in their parents’ backyard, but Friday’s encounter will be anything but friendly.
LaMelo and Lonzo had a dream of playing in the NBA, and although they took different paths, they are both delighted to be living out their respective fantasies.
”Nobody took it easy on me – fighting, scrapping, falling on concrete,” LaMelo said. ”Parents would get scared when their kids went back there. It was something you had to witness for real.”
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Prior to making the move to playing in the NBA, Lonzo played a college season at UCLA, while LaMelo went overseas to ply his trade professionally..
”At the end of the day we both ended up where we wanted to be,” Lonzo said. ”So the hard work definitely pays off. If you put your mind to it I really think you can do anything.”
Lonzo is averaging 13.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game for the Pelicans this season, while LaMelo is putting out 11.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 4.9 assists, while leading the Hornets with 1.6 steals per game.
New Orleans (4-4) enters Friday’s game aiming to stop a two-game skid after losing back-to-back games to the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder. The Pelicans have also lost three of the past four games.
Meanwhile, Charlotte (3-5), comes into this game on the back of a 102-94 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night, but prior to that win, the Hornets suffered defeats in three straight games.
