Charlotte Hornets vs Milwaukee Bucks Prediction, 1/2/2026 Preview and Pick

Game: Charlotte Hornets vs Milwaukee Bucks

Date: Friday, January 2, 2026

Location: Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, WI

TV: FanDuel Sports Network

Fiserv Forum is the location where the Milwaukee Bucks (13-19) will take on the Charlotte Hornets (11-20) on Friday.

The Hornets faced the Magic and earned the victory with a final of 120-105 in their last game. With respect to personal fouls, the Hornets left the arena with 19 and the Magic finished the game with 25 personal fouls. They also knocked down 11 out of their 35 shots from 3-point land. Orlando finished 87.0% when shooting free throws by converting 20 of their 23 attempts. Furthermore, Orlando snagged 42 rebounds (16 offensive, 26 defensive) and had 6 rejections. Orlando distributed 22 dimes and had 7 steals for the matchup. Concerning defending, Charlotte allowed the other team to go 39.8% from the field on 37 of 93 shooting. They also recorded 23 dimes for this contest as well as creating 9 turnovers and getting 3 steals. In relation to grabbing rebounds, they earned 53 with 16 of them being offensive. At the free throw line, the Hornets buried 19 of 28 shots for a rate of 67.9%. Charlotte ended having earned a 47.1% FG percentage (41 out of 87) and converted 19 out of their 39 shots from downtown.

LaMelo Ball is a guy who came through for this game. Ball ended up shooting 35.0% from the field and also totaled 5 assists. He played 29 mins and also snagged 7 rebounds. He walked away with 22 points on 7 of 20 shooting.

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Charlotte enters this contest with a mark of 11-20 on the year. They lose possession by turning the ball over 15.8 times per game and as a squad are committing 19.3 personal fouls on a nightly basis. As a team, Charlotte is grabbing 44.6 rebounds per contest and has tallied 812 dimes for the year, which is 19th in basketball in terms of passing the ball. The Hornets are hitting 36.3% on three-point attempts (461 of 1,269) and 81.1% from the charity stripe. They currently have an average of 115.6 pts per game (18th in the league) while hitting 45.5% from the field.

When they are on defense, the Hornets have forced 13.0 turnovers on a nightly basis while drawing 21.5 personal fouls. They are ranked 25th in the NBA in giving up assists to their opponents with 884 conceded for the season. The Hornets are giving up a shooting percentage of 48.6% (1,367 of 2,813) and they surrender 41.1 boards per contest as a basketball team. They are giving up 38.1% on 3-point attempts and they are 22nd in the league in PPG allowed (118.4).

When they last stepped on the court, the Bucks went home victorious with a score of 112-103 against the Bulls. The Bucks were able to pull down 36 defensive boards and 11 offensive rebounds totaling 47 for the matchup. They coughed it up 12 times, while recording 12 steals for this game. The Bulls earned 18 personal fouls in the matchup which got the Bucks to the charity stripe for a total of 24 tries. They were able to bury 19 of the free throw tries for a clip of 79.2%. In regard to three-point shots, Milwaukee converted 13 of 36 attempts (36.1%). When the final whistle blew, the Bucks ended up going 40 for 86 from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 46.5%. The Bucks permitted the Bulls to convert 39 of 93 tries from the floor which gave them a rate of 41.9% for the game. They shot 34.2% from three-point range by going 13 of 38 and walked away from this one shooting 12 of 16 at the free throw line (75.0%). When it comes to attacking the glass, Milwaukee allowed Chicago to snag 52 overall (16 offensive).

Giannis Antetokounmpo pitched in for the Bucks in the matchup. Antetokounmpo tallied 29 points in his 25 minutes on the court and tallied 1 assist for this game. He knocked down 10 of 15 for this contest giving him a rate of 66.7%, and had 8 rebounds.

Milwaukee has a win-loss record of 13-19 on the year. As an offense, the Bucks are shooting 48.5% from the floor, which has them ranked 6th in the league. Milwaukee has totaled 3,607 pts this year (112.7 per game) and they collect 40.5 boards per game. They are dishing out assists 26.1 times per game (15th in the NBA) and they are turning it over 15.2 times per contest. The Bucks are committing 21.6 personal fouls every game and they hit 72.8% from the free throw line.

The Milwaukee defense gives up 35.6% on shots from beyond the perimeter (432 of 1,213) and their opponents are converting on 77.8% of their free throw shots. They allow 26.7 dimes and 44.8 boards every game, which ranks 15th and 18th in the NBA. The Bucks are ranked 16th in the NBA in points allowed per contest with 116.0. They are able to force 14.6 TO's per game and have allowed teams to shoot 46.9% from the field (15th in the NBA).

Who will win tonight's NBA game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Milwaukee

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