A pair of the NBA's premier centers will go head to head on Wednesday night when the hometown Charlotte Hornets take on the New Orleans Pelicans for the first time this season.
Currently the only player in the league averaging at least 15.0 points, 13.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game in January, first-year Hornet Dwight Howard is experiencing his best month of the 2017-18 campaign. The three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year has also grabbed at least 15 boards in each of his last five games, matching his longest such streak of the season.
Defensively, Howard will have quite a battle in the paint going against eighth-year veteran, DeMarcus Cousins, who ranks sixth in the league in scoring (25.