Official Game Thread: Hornets at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

“The Hawkman has 24 hours to reveal himself.”

 

Don’t let the smooth 10-7 record fool you. The Charlotte Hornets, like the Atlanta Hawks, are on the mend and on the rise!

LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges and the Hornets are in town (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast in ATL and CLT; NBATV elsewhere; 92.9 FM in ATL) at State Farm Arena, and they are bugs on a mission.

Similar to Atlanta (7-9), Charlotte had to withstand an early-season downturn as they took their lumps on the road and in back-to-backs. Having lost to Cleveland on the business end of a back-to-back at home, coach James Borrego’s club headed out west and watched their losing skid extend to five in a row. Then the trip turned back east, and his team has since ventured north in the standings.

First, there was victory in a showdown with Ja Morant in Memphis. Then, a packed-house homestand kicked off with a win over future number-retiree Kemba Walker’s Knicks. Following that, the Hornets became the first NBA club, as per Elias Sports, since 2017-18’s Hornets to topple the NBA’s sitting conference leaders in consecutive games. They denied Charlotte native Steph Curry’s Dubs another dub, before outlasting Brad Beal’s Wizards.

The Hornets, coming off the 121-118 home win versus Indiana last night, are 0-3 on the back ends of back-to-backs, and like the Hawks did earlier this week, they’re aiming to rise to 1-3 in this category tonight. They also embark on a three-game road swing through much of their division-rival’s towns, with the rematch in D.C. on Monday, and the Magic in O-Town on Wednesday. These games, in particular, are a huge deal for Charlotte.

Even as Atlanta plans (soon?) to raise their rare Southeast Division flag from their most recent banner season, having gone worst to first in-division since 2019-20, the Hornets, around the Carolinas in some form of fauna since 1988, have never been able to hoist a division banner of any stripe.

Kemba’s and Borrego’s mad dash in 2019 for the Southeast title (and, by extension, a playoff spot, since the entire division was awful) came up short by three games to 42-40 Orlando, and that’s as close to the mark as they’ve been in a long time. Steph’s father Dell’s 1994-95 edition of purple and teal finished two games behind the Pacers for what was the Central Division crown at the time.

If you’re the Red Sox, AL East pennants don’t add up to a hill of beans in Beantown, in and of themselves. But each one does scream out, suggestively, that in one particular Anno Domini, Boston finished a season ahead of the hated Yanks.

The Hawks and the Hornets, as Chris Paul might tell the tale, don’t really despise each other, nothing like those longtime, bitter baseball rivals up north. But one thing fans of Atlanta’s and Charlotte’s teams with hoop dreams have in common is, we’re sick and tired of Miami acting like they’re Nique’s manna from the heavens. Short of a Larry O’Brien, nothing says, “we outwitted the smarmy Pat Riley this year!”, quite like a Division Champs banner.

The heat, now one half-game out of 1^st in the East, already cruised past Charlotte once last month. Charlotte understands that the best way to at least keep chase with the current division leaders is to rattle off as many divisional wins as possible, and that opportunity, continuing tonight, avails itself.

After a post-Thanksgiving back-to-back versus Minnesota and at Houston, the only to-date schedule that, by most measures, is stronger than Atlanta’s, ratchets up again before the Bugs and Birds collide here again on December 5. That game will be the first of a back-to-back for both them and the Hawks.

Both Borrego and coach Nate McMillan’s crews are trying to spiffy up their once-sagging defenses. A couple of overtime games register into it, but the Hornets (25^th in D-Rating) have allowed a league-high 113.6 PPG. Also factoring in is a departure, for Charlotte, from snail-paced tempos (102.16 possessions per-48, 3^rd in NBA), as Borrego transitions fully from the Kemba years to hand the offense over to LaMelo (7.6 RPG, 7.5 APG; 38.5 3FG%, 92.7 FT%).

Just about all of Ball’s season-high 32 points (plus 8 dimes and 11 boards) were needed to outpace Indiana last night. But despite allowing 118 points in regulation, his team held their prior four vanquished foes to 98.3 PPG on 40.0% shooting from the field (25.3 3FG%).

He’s no De’Andre Hunter, yet the defensive activity from the star of Real Baby Mama Dramas of the Queen City has been sorely missed. P.J. Washington (1.7 blocks per-36) remains out indefinitely, after hyperextending his elbow seven games into the season. Charlotte has ramped up the playing time for Washington’s fellow UK Wildcat, Nick Richards (2.8 blocks per-36), in part to account for Washington’s absence and to keep from wearing down starting center and offseason addition Mason Plumlee.

Like the Hornets, the Hawks are finding ways to adapt. Atlanta’s defensive efficiency improved to 110.9 (tied with Orlando for 27^th in NBA) after throttling Boston by a 110-99 score on Wednesday evening, the first Hawks opponent to be held in double-digit scoring over Atlanta’s past 12 contests. A defensive gem from Cam Reddish (3 steals and a block) on Wednesday helped make Jayson Tatum’s 34-point night taste like empty calories for Boston, and teammates helped keep Tatum’s teammates (6-for-29 3FGs) tranquil from downtown.

John Collins isn’t the only one in the Dirty South Division who has been rounding out his game beyond his aerial exploits. Keeping up with JC’s T-shirts, mask coverings of Miles Bridges, flinging the ball past Clint Capela, are selling like hoe cakes in the 704.

But Bridges has crossed over from Just a Dunker into Most Improved Player territory as Charlotte’s leading scorer (20.8 PPG on 16.7 shots per game, up from 12.7 and 9.4 as a sixth-man last season). Miles’ full-floor presence (6.1 D-Rebs per game, behind only LaMelo’s 6.2) also alleviates pressure on Gordon Hayward (41.8 3FG%) to be a stout post presence at both ends.

While he’s not shooting the rock with high efficiency in the paint (40.0 FG% from 3-to-10 feet, as per bball-ref) or on the perimeter (33.9 3FG%), the frequency of Bridges' high-efficiency targets (just 3 of 163 2FGAs beyond 10 feet) help maximize his on-court production. Ball and the Hornets could stand to initiate Miles' touches more often in the paint, where his 77.8 FG% (on just 2.3 shots per game, as per nba.com stats) ranks 5^th in the league (min. 10 games & 2 paint FGAs).

Plumlee, by comparison, gets almost double Bridges’ paint touches, although he has the sense to pass safely out of most of them (NBA-high 41.0 pass%). Despite the occasional brilliance of Ball, the Hornets (NBA-high 30.9 PPG on spot-up plays), even with gunners like Terry Rozier and Kelly Oubre, are committed to moving the pill effectively. While playing at a high pace, all five starters average at-or-above three assists per game, and their 1.90 assist/TO team ratio ranks third in The Association.

Thanks to Bogdan Bogdanovic (season-high-tying 6 assists w/ no TOs vs. BOS; 2.6 APG, down from 3.3 last season), the Hawks are beginning to realize the importance of not simply letting the ball stick wherever Trae Young (last 7 games: 9.1 APG, 5.3 TOs/game) hurls it. After Bogi, only Collins and the thawing bench guard Delon Wright (each w/ 2.1 APG; Wright had 5 assists and no TOs vs. ORL) average over two assists per game for Atlanta.

Not every pass delivered from Young is required to result in a shot attempt, although the Hawks seem to take this notion a tad too much to heart (NBA-low 22.1 catch-and-shoot FGAs/game; 55.4 C&S eFG%, 5^th-highest in NBA). The more confident and creative the Hawks (2.13 assists/TO ratio this week, 5^th in NBA) get with their ballhandling decisions, particularly off catches from Trae, the less opponents can predictably drill down on their brightest star.

Charlotte’s daring and dazzling playmakers make them must-see TV in the Land O' League Pass. But for those attending games in their stadium, they’d love to see at least one flag, commemorating a division title or two, make its way up into the rafters soon. Certainly, before Walker’s number gets up there beside Bobby Phills’.

A division banner would mean as much to the fans as the team quenching its five-year-long playoff drought, if not more. But getting there will require beating the other division darlings, past and present, that stand in their way.

Tonight’s game is shaping up to be a veritable springboard. But while it may set up a vault for the victor, their opponents may find themselves trying to avert another dive. Today, and come April, whose wings will be flying the highest?

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Late-game Pacers had last night's Hornets like:

 

~lw3

[Spud2nique]

27 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

hoe cakes

they taste good. 

[Spud2nique]

29 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

But Bridges has crossed over from Just a Dunker into Most Improved Player territory as Charlotte’s leading scorer (20.8 PPG on 16.7 shots per game, up from 12.7 and 9.4 as a sixth-man last season). Miles’ full-floor presence (6.1 D-Rebs per game, behind only LaMelo’s 6.2) also alleviates pressure on Gordon Hayward (41.8 3FG%) to be a stout post presence at both ends

He has been a fantasy wiz for me. I didn’t think he would do this well when I drafted him, nice. Just don’t do it in a win tonight. 

 

31 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Charlotte’s daring and dazzling playmakers make them must-see TV in the Land O' League Pass.

No lies.

Awesome lw3!

Go Hawks!

[hawkman]

This is a huge game for the Hawks. Extending the winning streak to four against a hungry Hornets team in front of a sell out crowd is a good indication that the Hawks are officially back to being the team we saw at the end of last season. I've seen signs that these guys are starting to get the chemistry back over the past few games. It would be nice to see a convincing victory tonight to prove they are better than their current record and place in the standings.

[kg01]

2 minutes ago, hawkman said:

This is a huge game for the Hawks. Extending the winning streak to four against a hungry Hornets team in front of a sell out crowd is a good indication that the Hawks are officially back to being the team we saw at the end of last season. I've seen signs that these guys are starting to get the chemistry back over the past few games. It would be nice to see a convincing victory tonight to prove they are better than their current record and place in the standings.

Yep.  Time for the team with playoff experience to show why that matters.

[RedDawg#8]

Just want a win. Doesn't mean anything other than we are another game closer to .500.

We lost 6 in a row. It'd be nice to get 6 right back.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Dnice]

Did sothron record Where the buzz began on NBATV?    Lol

[terrell]

They gave us Sam Mitchell on NBA TV...smh....

[hawkman]

2 hours ago, RedDawg#8 said:

Just want a win. Doesn't mean anything other than we are another game closer to .500.

We lost 6 in a row. It'd be nice to get 6 right back.

True, it's early in the season and the Hawks need to get to .500 and well beyond that to prove they're for real. But I'm hoping that the game versus Milwaukee was the turning point where the Hawks remembered they were a freak ankle injury and two games away from the NBA Finals. That is why I think this game is important. I'd like to see them get on a roll like they did after the All Star break last season. 

[kg01]

Time to stop throwing away games like these.   Time to stop losing against the Charlotte's and Cleveland of the world.

[Sothron]

27 minutes ago, Dnice said:

Did sothron record Where the buzz began on NBATV?    Lol

Yes, watching it now.

I'm worried about the LJ jersey karma in this game. I've been a low key Hornets fan since the LJ/Zo days and they have a very fun team to watch and cheer for. I'm definitely cheering for the Hawks but I'm worried my LJ jersey might betray us.

[Dnice]

Probably since the hawks are playing  Charlotte.. but I can't front imma check out the muggy special.

[Sothron]

[Sothron]

I hope McRib doesn't kill us 

[hawkman]

Great start.

[MaceCase]

Bogi got them dancing 

[MaceCase]

Let the Rooster fly!