Charlotte Hornets Report: Week 21 (Final Week) of 2020-21
Charlotte Hornets
LAST 4 GAMES
- vs. Chicago Bulls: L, 99-120
- vs. Orlando Magic: W, 122-112
- vs. New Orleans Pelicans: L, 110-112
- vs. Denver Nuggets: L, 112-117
Same thing, different week for Charlotte. Losing meaningful games and winning games that they should’ve won all along. The Hornets have had injury problems over the last month and a half, I will give them that, but it has been an extremely disappointing stretch for Charlotte. It sucks that they’re in the play-in tournament. They clinched that “honor” this week and we as Hornets fans come to expect it, but that is a problem in itself. I’m not going to go on a rant here, but it is embarrassing how the Hornets are seemingly in the same boat every year.
This week was an awful one for Charlotte. In a week that they probably needed 3 wins, they came away with 1. They played 3 teams that are all practically eliminated from playoff contention and drop two of those games. If this is the way that the Hornets are going to play next week, they don’t deserve to be in the playoffs. The Play-in tourney is stupid and I hope that it doesn’t continue next season. There are rarely ever more than 16 teams that deserve to make the playoffs and honestly, the NBA playoffs are too long in my opinion, but that’s another story. Basketball should be done by April or the beginning of May.
It was good to see Devonte’ Graham back in action and I know he will help the Hornets out a lot coming up. With that being said though, they are severely missing a good wing player. Miles Bridges has been out and it appears that Hayward won’t be ready for the play-in tourney. Hopefully Bridges will at least be available by the time the tourney starts.
Week 20 MVP: Terry Rozier
AP
Scary Terry is playing like his old self and had a great week, despite the team playing badly. He averaged 26.0 PPG in the last 4 and shot just under 48% from the field. The Hornets are going to desperately need Rozier to be at the top of his game for the next couple of weeks at least and hopefully we see a fully healthy Hornets team by that time.
NEXT 3 GAMES
- vs. Los Angeles Clippers (46-23): Thursday, May 13th at 7pm
- @ New York Knicks (38-31): Saturday, May 15th at TBD
- @ Washington Wizards (32-37): May 16th at TBD
Tonight, the Hornets will play their final home game of the season and it couldn’t get a lot tougher than the matchup they will face tonight. The Clippers are currently the 3 seed in the West and are all business. They have room to move up, but they can only move down to the 4 seed, so we may see a laxed Clippers squad from what we would normally see. As far as I know, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard are playing, but Serge Ibaka will sit out tonight. Hopefully the Hornets can get a win here, but at this point in the season, they’re only playing for the matchup in the play-in tourney.
The Knicks have been one of the most surprising teams of the season. They’re the current 6 seed, but they can drop into the play-in tournament. The season series is currently split between the Knicks and the Hornets, so this will obviously be the season series deciding factor game, but more importantly it could be a big seeding game. If the Knicks lose the rest of their games this season and the Celtics win the rest of theirs, the Knicks will be in the play-in tourney, but that doesn’t look likely.
The final matchup of the year is going to be a big one. The Wizards are currently the 10 seed and they’re all but locked in. This will likely be the battle for the worst play-in seed. It looks like the Celtics are going to be the 7 seed regardless of the outcomes for the rest of the season, so this will be the matchup to face them or the Pacers. It is possible that it could be for the 8/9 seeds, but I don’t think that will happen. Considering the way the Hornets are playing and the matchups they have this week, I’m not expecting a good week. The Hornets have already secured the season series victory, so look for a Hornets sweep in their final regular season game.
Yacs