Charlotte Hornets

LAST 3 GAMES

- @ Memphis Grizzlies: L, 114-130

- vs. Minnesota Timberwolves: W, 120-114

- vs. San Antonio Spurs: L, 110-122

I can’t believe that we are 9 weeks into the NBA season already. The Hornets have played 28 games this season, but it hasn’t been a wonderful year for Charlotte. Not to say that it has been all bad. In fact, there have been quite a few bright spots for the team this season. LaMelo Ball has probably been the most surprising addition, but players like Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward have stepped up in big situations.

Last week, the Hornets dropped 2 of the 3 and I felt like it was a very crucial week for them to get some nice wins. If they can’t beat teams like the Spurs or Grizzlies, they have no business being in the playoffs. With the NBA adding a rule where the 7-10 seeds are entered into a “play-in” tournament at the end of the regular season, it feels like the Hornets have a good shot to make the playoffs, but they’re really going to have to step it up. Losing games like they did last week cannot happen on a regular basis.

The big theme at the end of the week was player availability. The injuries and other health related issues are starting to pile up for Charlotte and it couldn’t come at a worse time. The Hornets only had 8 healthy players in the last two games and I don’t know if things will be settled before they play again. Devonte’ Graham has been dealing with a knee injury, but the rest are assumed to be Covid-related.

The matchup last week with the biggest storyline was probably the two ROTY favorites facing each other. Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball are the frontrunners for the Rookie of the Year award and it is a tight race at the moment. The Hornets picked up their only win of the week, but both rookies had great games. Ball had 20 points and 11 rebounds and Edwards scored 21 with 6 rebounds. I’d say Ball is the favorite at the moment, but Edwards has had a great season also, so we’ll see in the end.

Due to Covid reasons, the Hornets next 2 games will be postponed. Depending on if the tests come back clear or not, it appears that the next time we will see our team play will be on Saturday at home. Hopefully that will be the case, but stay tuned.

Week 8 MVP: Terry Rozier

Scary Terry had an excellent week. He was lights out on offense in the last 3 games and even though the Hornets weren’t great, Rozier was phenomenal. He averaged 36.0 PPG and shot 59.1% from the field. He also was a 53.6% shooter from long-range. It’s not like he just kicked things in, he has been playing great basketball all season long. He is having his best season of his career by far and hopefully this is a normal trend for the guard.

NEXT 2 GAMES

- vs. Golden State Warriors (15-13): Saturday, February 20th at 8pm

- @ Utah Jazz (23-5): Monday, February 22nd at 9pm

If all goes according to planned, the Hornets first matchup in this week’s slate will be against the Warriors on Saturday. This will be their first meeting this season and it is always an interesting matchup, because Stephen Curry plays in front of his home crowd. Obviously, there aren’t going to be any fans in attendance, but for the fans watching at home, it is always a matchup that Hornets fans have circled. The Warriors are clearly not the team they were 2 years ago, but they’re still a good team. They’re the current 8 seed and Stephen Curry is still one of the best players in the league. For the rest of their team though, they’re basically the Bad News Bears of the NBA. They have one awesome player and the rest are misfits. Not to say this is an easy game for Charlotte, because it absolutely is not. While I think the Hornets can take advantage of their below average defense, they have to be cautious of the Warriors above average offense. Hopefully this will be one of the Hornets good season wins when it is all said and done, but I’m not counting on it.

Next on the slate are the Utah Jazz. These two teams met in Charlotte just a couple weeks ago and it was bad news for the Hornets. Despite LaMelo Ball’s career high 34 points, the Hornets took the L, 121-138. The Jazz were the hottest team at that point in time and things haven’t changed in the two-week span. The Jazz have won 8 in a row and as a matter of fact, they have won 19 of their last 20. I think most people expected them to be a good team this season, but nobody expected them to be the best team in the NBA. Also, the fact that they’re doing this in the Western Conference makes it even more incredible. The Jazz do everything well and we saw that on full display a couple weeks ago. Don’t expect things to change on Monday.

Yacs

Charlotte Hornets Report: Week 9 of 2020-21