It hasn't been a great week so far for the Minnesota Timberwolves or the Charlotte Hornets.

So while there have been glitches, there are enough slivers of hope shining through for both teams in advance of Saturday night's meeting in Charlotte.

The Hornets have lost their past two games, thanks to some rough defensive performances. A second-half rally was nixed in Thursday night's 123-107 loss to visiting Orlando.

"The reality is the NBA is a collection of the best 450 players in the world, and guys are good," Hornets rookie Sion James said. "It's just the reality. But the other reality is that when we're connected on defense, we can get stops, and then we can run offense."

Hornets guard LaMelo Ball had what coach Charles Lee referred to as his worst game of the season in the latest los

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