Tuesday's NBA Guide: Hornets Face Lakers, Celtics Look to Get Back on Track

FanHouse's NBA Guide gives you a daily look at all the games that matter ... and some that don't.

Tonight's slate features a key Western Conference showdown in Los Angeles, as well as the defending champs looking to get their swagger back against the Bobcats. To the matchups!

HEADLINER
New Orleans at L.A. Lakers, 10:30PM EST, NBATV

On the surface, the Hornets taking on the Lakers would appear to be a closely contested battle of two of the West's elite. But look a little deeper, and you'll see that this has been a colossal mismatch in L.A.'s favor so far this season.

It's early, but New Orleans has hosted the Lakers twice already, and was beaten pretty handily by L.A. in both meetings. Both contests were over by halftime, with the Lakers leading by 21 at the break in the first meeting, and by 19 at the break in the second. We'll see if anything's changed tonight, but even with the Hornets playing well recently, the Lakers should have little trouble rolling to a comfortable victory.

UNDERCARD
Boston at Charlotte, 7PM EST

As soon as the Celtics hit the road, their won-loss record began to hit the skids. Since dropping the Christmas Day showdown to the Lakers, Boston is just 2-4, with unexpected losses to the Warriors and the Knicks. They'll look to get right on the road against a Bobcats team that's coming off of a nice home win over the Bucks. On paper, the Celtics should do what they did to Sacramento and to Washington, and that's get out to an embarrassingly large lead before resting their starters in the fourth quarter. But these games aren't played on paper, and the Celtics' aura of intimidation has temporarily vanished.

Washington at Orlando, 7PM EST

The Wizards will try to build on the Legend of the Crab Drbble as they head into Orlando to face a Magic team that's beaten them twice already this season. Washington is an abysmal 7-25 on the season, while the Magic sit in third place overall in the East. But the Wizards have won three of their last five, and you know who sits in the conference's number two spot? The Cavaliers, who the Wiz took down a couple of days ago.

(I know. This is probably an Orlando blowout. But at least there's hope, people. Which is more than you could say about the Wizards a couple of weeks ago.)

THE OTHERS

Houston at Philadelphia, 7PM EST
Minnesota at Memphis, 8PM EST
New York at Oklahoma City, 8PM EST
Sacramento at Chicago, 8:30PM EST
L.A. Clippers at Dallas, 8:30PM EST