Charlotte Hornets

LAST 4 GAMES

- vs. Cleveland Cavaliers: L, 90-103

- @ Brooklyn Nets: L, 115-130

- vs. Portland Trailblazers: W, 109-101

- @ New York Knicks: L, 97-109

It was another bad week for Charlotte and it was to be expected, but they’re in serious danger of missing the playoffs this year. Only 4 games separate them and that 10 seed cutoff and they need to gear up for the next month if they want in. They dropped below .500 this week, dropping 3 of the 4 games last week. I know injuries are mostly to blame for this losing skid, but I felt like they could’ve won at least two of the games last week. Their losses weren’t even close. They lost basically by 13-14 points on average. It’s not looking any easier for Charlotte in the upcoming week either, but there was some good news for the Hornets this week.

LaMelo Ball has been cleared for basketball activities and they hope to have him game-ready in 7-10 days. His wrist healed nicely, and it appears that he is a little bit ahead of schedule. That is great news for Charlotte, they desperately needed a facilitator on offense and his defensive skills in the backcourt were missed in the last month of action. Hopefully Gordon Hayward will be able to get back out there soon as well.

To sum up last week’s action, they were simply outplayed in the three losses. It sounds cut and dry, but that is exactly how it went down. They were the worst shooting team of the 3 losing matchups, but in the game against the Nets, I have to say they played pretty well despite the loss. I thought that PJ Washington was going to be out of action for a little while, but he came back earlier this week and had two dominate performances. Miles Bridges has been filling in wonderfully in the last few weeks and it is good to see Terry Rozier back at the level he was earlier in the year. Hopefully, our Hornets players will have a healthy remainder of the season.

Week 17 MVP: Terry Rozier

This has pretty much been a theme all season long. Terry Rozier has consistently been the best Hornets player all season long. He averaged 26.0 PPG, 9.0 APG, and 7.0 RPG in the last 4. He shot 51.2% from the field and 41.5% from three-point range. He led the Hornets in scoring twice, rebounding twice and assists in all 4 games last week. A lot of Hornets stepped up this week in what was mostly losing efforts, but Terry Rozier shined the brightest this week. When the season is over, I’m anxious to see how many weekly MVP awards he has won.

NEXT 4 GAMES

- @ Chicago Bulls (24-33): Thursday, April 22nd at 9pm

- vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (20-37): Friday, April 23rd at 8pm

- vs. Boston Celtics (31-27): Sunday, April 25th at 1pm

- vs. Milwaukee Bucks (35-22): Tuesday, April 27th at 7pm

There are basically 3 more weeks of action and the Hornets have a lot of good basketball left in them. They don’t play until tomorrow night and they will face the Bulls on the road. They have only met once this year and the Bulls won that game, 123-110 three months ago. The Bulls currently hold the 10 seed and are in the playoffs at the moment. This absolutely cannot be a game the Hornets drop. The Bulls are a team that is capable of a big win, but they’re not a good team. The Hornets are a better team at the moment and they must win this game. They acquired Nikola Vucevic at the trade deadline, but they haven’t really improved a lot since then. They’re capable of a big win, but this is a game that Charlotte should win.

Next, we have a familiar team, but this time at home. The Hornets played Cleveland last week and lost. In fact, the Hornets haven’t matched up well with the Cavs this year at all. They’ve lost both meetings with them this season and the season series, so hopefully things will be different on Friday night. The Cavs aren’t really competing for the Playoffs, which is sad that the Hornets are dropping games to them at this particular time. Taurean Prince was a big factor in the Cavs win over Charlotte last week, igniting the bench with his 25-point performance. I can’t really explain their struggles against the Cavs this season. I guess they’re just not a good matchup for them. The Hornets absolutely need wins against non-playoff teams and hopefully they get at least two this week.

The Hornets have two nationally televised games this week and the first will be against the Celtics at home on Sunday afternoon. Boston is currently the cutoff team for the 6 seed and it is kind of surprising to see that. They’re a really solid team at it feels weird to see them so far down this season. The Hornets met them a couple weeks ago and it was bad news for Charlotte. After this week, they will meet again next Wednesday to settle the season series. Former Blue Devil, Jayson Tatum has been on a tear lately and so has Jaylen Brown. Brown or Tatum have been the leading scorers in all games for Boston except 4 this season and pay attention to them on Sunday. Kemba Walker will be returning to the place he called home for 8 seasons and it is always good to see the Hornets legend return home. This game will be on ESPN if you are wondering.

The Bucks and the Hornets will meet on Tuesday night for the final time this season and it appears that the Bucks will have the Greek Freak back for this matchup. The Hornets won the last matchup a couple weeks ago, but I’m afraid that may not be the case on Tuesday. Antetokounmpo is still dealing with some minor nagging injuries, but I think he’ll be good to go by the end of the week. The Bucks are the 3 seed in the East and they’ve had a bit of a rough stretch as of late. I think they will get back in a groove by the team the week rolls around and the Hornets need to bring their A-game if they want to win.

Yacs

Charlotte Hornets Report: Week 18 of 2020-21