Ryan Kalkbrenner’s DAD ENERGY POWERS Hornets WIN | Rookies SHUT DOWN Bucks | Tre Mann CLUTCH

Ryan Kalkbrenner’s DAD ENERGY POWERS Hornets WIN | Rookies SHUT DOWN Bucks | Tre Mann CLUTCH

Oh, daddy. Ryan Cogrinter has a new baby and then he sons the Milwaukee Bucks. The Hornets get a win. I can’t wait to dig into the notebook here on Locked on Hornets. You are Locked on Hornets, your daily Charlotte Hornets podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. In a minute, cuz we live. [Music] Welcome in. Welcome in. Welcome in. I’m Doug Branson and this is Locked On Hornets, your daily podcast on the Charlotte Hornets, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day now the number one sports podcast network. And that’s you. That’s you, by the way. You helped do that. So, we appreciate it. Uh, you can find my work on every hornetsboxcore.com. I just put up the recap of this 111 100 win by the Charlotte Hornets over the Milwaukee uh Bucks that notches their fourth win of the season. They move to 4 and seven on the season. A lot to dig into. I’m normally joined by Walker Mail of West and Walker on WFNZ 12-3. not here because I’m sure as most of you who watch the game uh saw he was on the local broadcast uh basically filling in for Terren Oglesby and uh doing he did the little fourth quarter hit, he did the halftime hit, he did the pregame show, looking good and and doing it well as he always does. Uh Walker Male, please please don’t leave me. I’m kidding. He never would. Right. Right. No, of course not. Uh not when the Hornets are winning. not when they have this rookie class uh that is stunning the world. Biggest story out of this game is the physicality that was on display by the Charlotte Hornets. The most physical they’ve been all season against a Giannis Milwaukee Bucks team. That was a huge factor in this game as well. Not going to sugarcoat it. Uh, but the way they were able to consistently be physical in this game, they held the Bucks to under 30 points in all four quarters. I don’t care if they didn’t have Giannis. That’s impressive for a Charlotte Hornets team that has uh really they c they can’t defend the officials, much less the opposing team uh this season. So, that was super impressive. And when you just look at the game score leaders in this game, it’s Ryan Cochrinter, it’s Musa Diabate, it’s Colin Ston, Pat Coneton showing up there against his old team. But let’s start at the top. Ryan Cochrinter. You see, if you’re watching on YouTube, you see it uh on the uh on the little sidebar there. Baby daddy baby hooks because Ryan Cochrinter questionable heading into this game. didn’t know if he was going to play for personal reasons, but we all knew what the personal reasons were. He was having uh his his first I think believe it was his first child, first baby. Congratulations to the Cochrinter family and uh he did he does play and he was the one of if not the biggest reasons they win this game. 17 points, nine rebounds, a perfect eight of eight from the field. He was, as Eric Collins pointed out, and and and Dale Curry a little bit too, like he was using that f, you know, dad energy, just had a baby energy. And I can I can attest to that. You do when you when you when you have the baby, there is a little bit of that like you’re gearing up. You’re like, I am a I’m a dad now. You know, I can go out and and lift a car. You don’t want to do that, but you have that sort of like amped up energy. So maybe that’s what’s fueling him. And good news for Ryan, the next time when he comes down off of that, the next time he has a bad game, he has a built-in excuse. As I’ve been saying for years, once you have the baby, you just say, “Oh, you know, tough game out there. I have a baby.” Now, you have to voice it. We’re not just going to give it to you, Ryan. We’re not just going to say, “Hey, it’s okay. You just had a baby.” No one does that. You have to say it, and then you make everybody uncomfortable, and then they have to go, “Oh, yeah, that’s right. He’s he’s a he’s a new father, so we have to give him a little bit of leeway.” So, just a little tip there uh for Ryan Cochrrener, but uh he didn’t need many tips in this game. He also had four stocks, three of those being a block and one of those being a steal, only three fouls. Um he would look, I mean, if he just if he catches it around the basket at this point, you’re already dead. Like, there’s just nothing you can do about it. And he’s not doing it with some kind of overwhelming like physical presence, you know? He’s not Dwight Howard down there with the rocks for shoulders and just yamming it in your face. No, he’s using the baby hooks. He’s using the feather soft touch and he just fes the glass. I mean, he just finds a way to get that ball in the basket. And meanwhile, he is when the ball on the defensive glass. This is the thing that I noticed over and over in this game. It was clock printer on the defensive glass. As soon as the ball goes up for the Milwaukee Bucks, Cochrer immediately looking for someone, anyone to block out. And if he couldn’t find a buck, I’m pretty sure he would have blocked out Colin Ston. He was just, he immediately goes and looks for somebody to block out, right? And then not only does that, he stays with it. He’s physical. He says, “Look, I might not have the broad shoulders, but I’m Yeah, I’m 71. I can stay in front of you if I try really hard. I’m going to keep you off this glass. Multiple rebounds of the total nine that he had. Uh let’s see, four of those offensive. So, he was getting his work done on the offensive glass as well, but five of those defensive. And I would say I’m totally guessing here. I know one for sure was in traffic, but I would really guess that like two or three of those were in traffic rebounds and not just gimmies because he is out there affecting and and I’ll tell you one thing, I maybe one day in the NBA they’ll be able to track kind of like they do a screen assist now, which some people call a fake stat, some people call a real stat. I’d like another fake stat for when you do a great job at blocking out, you’re going to facilitate rebounds for other people. It’s like hockey rebounds, like hockey assists. I mean, there were so many plays where Cochrrener, just by being physical, just by blocking out, was allowing other Hornets uh to get in there and do it. And Musa Diabate, who was a third in game score in this game with seven points, 13 rebounds, uh team leading rebounds, 13 and two assist. He does the same thing, but it’s I’m honestly it’s on both ends, offensive and defensive. He commands so much attention on the boards, you know. I think Cockrinter blocks out and Musa just with his effort and just shoving and bumping and grinding. Um, nothing wrong with a little bump and grind, you know that, especially on the boards and he was doing it and he commands and this is something that Charles Lee pointed out postgame like he commands attention. Some a lot of players command attention when they’re on ball. LaMelo Ball commands double teams. Brandon Miller can command double teams. My guy Moose is commanding double teams down low and if there’s two guys trying to block Moose out then, you know, you’ve got Bridges, you’ve got Ston, who else had an offensive rebound in this game? Uh, so Moose had eight offensive rebounds that that allows Miles to get an offensive rebound. Leah McNeely get an offensive rebound. Mason Plumbley threw one in there for good measure. So, it’s just like the ripple effects of the physicality. Uh we but we’ve seen that from Cochr Brener and Diabate. It was also Khan Canipple who struggled offensively in this game, but you constantly saw him getting his hips out there, hips in front, squared up, pushing on Kyle Kosma, pushing on AJ Green, uh making life more difficult. You saw Seon James as as Ryan Rollins was just tearing up the floor, threatening uh to get this Bucks team back into the game. You saw Cion James put the fullcourt pressure on uh this Milwaukee Bucks team. Uh just really I think a full team effort. I mean I I’ll I’ll throw some love Miles’s way 26 and six in this game. Seven of 19 from the field. Another struggle particularly from outside where he was two of 10 and hit one of those really late. So he spent a lot of this game being one of 10. So shooting a struggle uh but limited the turnovers. Another big story line. Maybe we get to more of that. Uh because I think there was a reason why they won this game and they couldn’t win the Lakers game. The big difference and I think you know what it is. Maybe we’ll talk about that more in a second. Uh it was Trey Man being aggressive offensively. Like the physicality goes both ways by the way. You don’t have to just be physical teams aren’t just physical defensively. They are physical offensively too. I thought Trey Mann was that. I thought Colin Saxon normally that but played it in a more controlled way this time. And then uh I thought uh KJ Simpson had some moments offensively. Liam McNeely had a sequence and that’s what you’re look when you’re talking about fourth rookie of the three rookies that have been getting significant playing time. Liam, you know, you just want sequences and he had a good sequence here to continue to build the confidence. All right, I put uh I put out on the subtext line joins.com/lockdonhornets the sicko brigade otherwise known. I put out an all call sicko celebrations. I wanted everyone to get involved in this show. I see it’s like a caller board. They’re just lighting up. People are excited about this win. I’m excited. And we’ve got much more show ahead coming up on the Lockdown Hornets podcast. Bees everywhere. The bees. The bees were everywhere on top of this Giannis team. Uh more from this game. How did they get an 11-point win? score not indicative because so the the white flag was waved by Doc Rivers and some of those guys got some shots up fresh legs over the tired legs pulled this thing within 11. Uh we’ll talk more about this game coming up. Locked on Hornets. [Music] Today’s episode of Locked On Hornets is brought to you by our friends at FanDuel. They have been supporting this show for a very long time. We got to show them support as well. The NBA is back and there is no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. If you miss the start of the game or you want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at an even bigger payout. It keeps every single game exciting. And though the Hornets had a big lead in this one, it was still exciting to see this team play physically. I’m not sure how you can bet on that on FanDuel, but I bet they’ll find a way. Uh especially when your team’s making that late push, it is extremely exciting to get involved with FanDuel. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of uh the NBA. This episode is also brought to you by our friends at Built. Nobody likes paying rent, but if you must, you might as well get something for it. That’s where Built comes in. Built is changing the game by turning your rent payment into real rewards that you can actually use. When you pay rent through Built, you earn flexible points that can be redeemed toward hundreds of hotels and airlines, a future rent payment, your next lift ride, and even more. But Built isn’t just about rent. It’s about rewarding you around your entire neighborhood. Built has made everyday life feel more rewarding. From your neighborhood to your travel plans, for example, you’re you’re grabbing food at your local favorite local restaurant or you’re heading to the gym. You’re still earning rewards all around the hood and you’re supporting that local business. So, it’s a double win. Double win for everyone. Turn your rent into rewards and start earning points around your neighborhood by going to joinbuilt.com/lockedonba. That’s j o i nb i lt.com/lockedonba. Make sure to use that link so that they know we sent you more locked on hornets ahead. Back here on locked on hornets. Let’s get over to the sicko brigade. We’ll start with Rocky from Salsbury who just says very simply, great game and sometimes the simple things are the best things to say and this was a great game. Um, you know, I I thought the loss to the Lakers was a very predictable loss. It doesn’t make it any easier, particularly when you play so well in the first half and you look like maybe, just maybe, they’re going to get a season defining win against the Los Angeles Lakers who were at full health and you just could not maintain it. And the Hornets, uh, they, you know, starting with that Pelicans loss, that was the first loss where you went, okay, they’ve stopped beating the teams that they were supposed to beat and now they’re just getting beat. And so this game against Milwaukee finally turning things around. We got a somewhat positive uh update from uh, Coach Lee on LaMelo Ball pregame. Uh, this is from Willie P over at WFNC on Twitter. Charles Lee called LaMelo Ball’s practice with the Greensboro Swarm a quote positive step unquote and he responded well this morning. Final quote here, he’s trending in the right direction. U and so maybe that trend will continue as he sees the Hornets picking up the pieces uh without him. Uh let’s go to more from the Siko Brigade. And this one comes in from Schumann of the 22nd Byron Mullins’s regiment who says, “What a great gift on my birthday to get a wellearned win.” Absolutely. And happy birthday to Schuman who has supported this show for so long that Schumann probably remembers the YouTube live episodes once a week that we used to do when we first joined up uh with Locked On. It’s almost been 10 years. Can you believe it? I cannot. Uh, this one coming from Hunter from the 43rd Joe Wolf Battalion. Uh, not necessarily the Bucks game only, but we were all worried about our center rotation statistically. Where do our centers rank in the league? All right. Well, that’s a great question. Um, and that’s one that I think is worthy of some research to see where where things stack up, Hunter. But I mean, I can tell you, look, they’re playing their tails off, right? I there’s no question there’s effort. There’s no question this game lots of physicality. We’ve seen, you know, stretches of that from uh from this center rotation, but if we’re being realistic, it still has some problems. Now, on the last episode, if you watched the last episode, I sort of half advocated for the Hornets to look if if the Sacramento Kings are talking fire sale. And when I hear fireell, I don’t hear we’re going to demand two or three picks for some of our star players. I hear, hey, we’d like to get this money off the books. We’ll take a pick, please and thank you, and we’ll help you out as well. We’ll scratch, you know, back scratching both ways. So, if I hear that and I think Sabonis is getable, you know, I think Sabonis, like whatever you think about Cochran, whatever you think about Musa Diabate, Sabonis is an allstar level player. Ryan Cochrinter might get to that. I don’t think that having a player like Sabonis precludes Ryan Cochrinter from continuing his development. It it you know, if I’m being honest, it might hurt Musas because without him being able to shoot threes. Where does that put him? Now, you you’re moving in a potential deal like that, you’re moving Miles Bridges, I think, to make the salaries work or you’re I don’t think you’re going to move LaMelo Ball because I don’t think Sacramento would want LaMelo Ball in a fire sale situation. So, you’re moving Miles Bridges. It does open up some room in the four rotation even when Grant Williams returns from injury. You know, if you’re thinking Tan Salon going to stay down in Greensboro for most of uh for most of the season, then it does open some room up for Musa to continue to play at that four where I think he’s he’s sized, you know, more appropriately because as much effort as we saw in this game, there were there were not dominant physical presences in the middle for the Milwaukee Bucks. No, Giannis. Miles Turner didn’t want it. Bobby Portoris didn’t want it. A lot of smaller guards that were not gonna really and and a few smaller wings too that were not really going to challenge you much in terms of you defensive rebounding. And so Musa, to his credit, whenever he finds those advantages, he takes advantage of them, which is not a given with the center rotation of the past. I won’t name any names, but you know exactly who I’m thinking about. Okay. Same goes for Cochrinter. But you just you all you have to do is go back to that Lakers game and see how Cochrinter this foot speed being taken advantage of by Luca in the first half. They go to Musa for the second half and they go right inside to Aiden. And so that’s a combo platter, right? It is bigger center can get up and DeAndre Aiden, but it’s also a point guard that can deliver deliver on well I mean a a point guard combo guard wing all NBA MVP level player and so look I mean you know when we have all of these conversations I try to have them both from like a realistic what are the realistic objectives of this current Hornets team it’s totally development season it’s not about I I think um my guy Evan Hale who will get together for a uh every hornets box court podcast that we do once a week. We’ll get together for that u in the next day or two. But I thought he brought something up interesting in the every hornets box court chat tonight where he said, you know, they’re not and I think he may have been relaying it from someone else’s observation. So this is a uh a borrowed observation twice over twice baked potato here. But they talk a lot about building a winning culture, not necessarily like trying to win right now. You know, there’s like a difference between, hey, we want to build a winning culture, but understanding that like fundamentally this is not a roster that can win right now. They’re not built like that. And so to say, hey, we’re trying we’re we’re trying to win right now would be would be silly. But I also try to think about like, okay, if they did all of a sudden decide that or they decided in the offseason, then let’s also talk about it from the perspective of what do teams that win in the playoffs actually need from their center rotation, from their wing rotation, from their guard rotation, you know, what do they need? And so when you think about it like that, you know, Cochrinter and Diabate uh relative to some of the center rotations that the Hornets have had in the past that were not physical enough, that were not skilled enough. I mean, Cochran are skilled at scoring is is great, but we haven’t seen him shoot a three yet. Uh he doesn’t pass. Uh so, you know, all of those things. It’s like, yes, I mean, Sabon, it’s obvious Sabonis would be an upgrade, but I can also see the Hornets saying, look, we think we have something special here in Cockprinter, and we’re going to play it out. Obvious, you know, they could definitely go down that road. um and and and assue a center opportunity, whether it be, you know, whether it be Sabonis, whether they want to get ins absolutely insane and go after another team that looks like they may be breaking it all down, Anthony Davis, that would be Oh my god. M look, if they’re trying to reverse a curse, if if you do feel cursed as a Hornets fan, uh I’m not I’m not going to sit here on this podcast and and advocate for the Charlotte Hornets to go and get a player that can’t stay healthy. That would be that would be podcast that would be local podcast malpractice on a on a meow mix level. Okay, I’m not going to do that. But if you’re just talking about reversing curses, it seems very reversy cursy to me to go out and get the guy that you just missed out on in favor of MKG. And the Pelicans were the team uh that were that were favored in that. Uh so, okay, I’m going to move on before I get too many uh angry comments. Coming up on the Locked On Hornets podcast, everyone. do want to go back to I want to get as many of these uh Siko comments from the Siko Brigade in as I can. We’ve got a few more on the board here. So, we’ll get to those. Uh plus some final thoughts on a Hornets win 111 to 100 over the Milwaukee Bucks. Stay with us. [Music] Today’s episode of Locked on Hornets is brought to you by our friends at Mint Mobile. If you are still overpaying for wireless, it’s time to say yes to saying no. At Mint Mobile, their favorite word is no. No contracts, no monthly bills, no overages, no hidden fees, no BS. Uh, say yes to making the switch and get premium wireless for just 15 bucks a month. Mint makes it simple. All plans come with high-speed data, unlimited talk, and text delivered on the nation’s largest 5G network. You can even bring your own phone and keep your same number and your contacts. Uh the setup is super easy. Uh you keep your number and then you are up and running in minutes. If you’re ready to say yes to saying no, sure you are. Make the switch at mintmobile.com/lockedonba. That’s mintmobile.com/lockedonba. Upfront payment of $45 required, equivalent to 15 bucks a month. Limited time new customer offer for first three months only. Speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on the unlimited plan. Taxes and fees extra. See Met Mobile for details. More Lockdown Hornets ahead. [Music] Last segment here on Locked on Hornets. Let’s get to more of your comments from the Sicko Brigade. Uh this one comes in from Andrew of the 31st Rambus Brigade. The good goggles. How do you win even with a cooler shooting night? Rebounds and free throws. We hit 23 free throws to their eight and out hustled them 50-34 on the boards. Good composure by the rookies until the last couple of minutes. Professional win. Yes. And thank you, Andrew, because you’ve turned my focus to one of the things that I wanted to look at from this game, and that is the dreaded third quarter. I mentioned it on the last episode while while recapping the Lakers loss that the Hornets, particularly after they lost LaMelo Ball, have been god awful in the third quarter. A net rating that I think was hovering around -29. Like it was putrid for the Charlotte Hornets in the third quarter. A third quarter that cost them that game against the Lakers. So in this one, uh you had the Hornets winning the third quarter 24-22. You hold Milwaukee to 22 points on 39% shooting, nine of 23, and uh not a lot of free throws in that quarter. It was a little bit more of an ethical quarter than some of the others. Uh but on two-pointers, the Hornets 7 of 13 versus seven of 17 for the Milwaukee Bucks. But here are the real numbers. Three Three turnovers. Three turnovers. Only three turnovers. they finally like focused and and held the ball in check. Not a lot of above the free throw line turnovers. If you’re new to the show, uh it’s one of my pet peeves, the above the free throw line turnovers because a they’re live ball turnovers and live ball turnovers, regardless of whether they’re above the free throw line or not, uh those uh get turned into transition buckets for the other team in this third quarter. Only two fast break points for the Milwaukee Bucks. of those 22. And so you can’t have the above the free throw line because those are almost guaranteed buckets because then you you can’t even get your transit. You don’t even have a chance to get your transition defense back unless you just have like stoppers up top, which by the way, I mean, Khan Canipple had had a great stop in transition. But if you give time for Musa or Cochr Brener or somebody or Miles Bridges or someone to get back, then you at least give yourself an opportunity uh to make it tougher on them to score those transition buckets. If you’re not giving it up above the free throw line, so those those are the killers. And the Hornets, they didn’t do a lot of that. Uh they didn’t do too much dribbling and, you know, on that in getting picked on that initial attack. You know, if there were turnovers, uh it was happening, you know, swipes down low. You don’t love to see a lot of those, but if it’s going to happen, let it be on those aggressive drives and let it happen down low instead of on the initial attack. So, that’s what happened in this game and just all across the board. Let me see the full game turnover uh mark for the Charlotte Hornets. 16. Not a great number, but not a catastrophic number. I mean, they’ve been doing 1920. And look, you know, Milwaukee did score 24 points off of those turnovers to the Hornets, nine points off the turnovers, but the fast break points, that’s an even mark at 12 and 12. So, there was a little bit more getting back into transition than second chance points, that’s the big number, which was 19-5 in favor of the Charlotte Hornets. And they reduce their own fouls. I’m sure Milwaukee will look at this game. I’m sure Milwaukee fans, I know Doc Rivers will look back at this game and blame the refs and look at the free throw disparity um as the main culprit. And maybe Doc Rivers does that to the media, you know, after the game. Uh maybe, you know, if uh but I think in his heart of hearts, he knows that his team got out physicalled that this was not an issue of the referees, you know, giving the Hornets homecourt advantage here. This was a team that pushed first, that hit first. And when you do that, I I think it does affect how games are officiated. I think when you hit first, when you set the tone of physicality, I do think, and this is OKC made a championship out of doing this where they would come out of the gates just firing on teams with their physicality and force and saying, “Hey, referees, can you call everything? Do you really want to start this game with like 10 straight whistles? No, you don’t. You want everybody to have a good time. Look at that guy’s got a beer. That she’s got a hot dog. Everybody’s good. They want to have a good time. You’re not going to call all those fouls. So, you set the tone early and you force the whistle your way. And so, I do think there’s there is something to that and I think the Hornets were able to do that. But, it wasn’t all the way this game was whistled. It was just the Hornets beating the Milwaukee Bucks to the spot, whether it was rebounds, loose balls, whatever it was. Um, getting into them early, ball pressure, it was all there for the Charlotte Hornets. A fantastic win. Uh, I’m not going to, you know, I’m sure you may have because we we’ve all been itching for the Charlotte Hornets to get off the Schneider and get a win here without LaMelo Ball. You know, hopefully just to coax him off the bench like LaMelo, wasn’t that fun to watch? what you want to come and and hang out. It’s like it’s like uh when you’re you know everybody wants LaMelo back, right? And and this team it would be a lot easier for the Charlotte Hornets to get wins if LaMelo were back. Um but they they get a tough one here without him. I’m not going to put the Big Dub hat on because they didn’t have Giannis. Now they may welcome Giannis back. Uh, in fact, it’s almost a certainty that they’re going to welcome him back in the second game of this twoame slate against the Milwaukee Bucks because uh, in this game he was on they called it a knee issue, but I think it was this is just load man. I think even uh, Doc may get dinged for this, but I think he admitted it pregame u, that this was a a load management issue for them. All right, this is what I want to do to close out the show. Uh, I want to send one more congrats to the Cockrunner family. New baby changes your life in all of the best ways. Um, and so yeah, that’s awesome. All right, let me get to some more of these sick Oberg comments, too. Uh, next one is going to come from uh 913. You know who you are. And if you’ve given me your name already, I apologize. send it to me again so I can get it in the notes so that I can tell you know your your sort of handle and when you join the SECO brigade you get to pick your handle and you get to pick who you want to be in your sort of like Ramis brigade Mullen’s regiment kind of thing. So 913 if you’ve sent it to me before go ahead and send it to me again uh when you hear this show. Um, everyone is going to discount this because Giannis didn’t play, but this shows that Chef Jeff and Charles Lee have the pieces in place to do something real moving forward, whether that includes LaMelo or what we get in return from him. Great comment, 913, Coniple at the top of NBA.com’s rookie ladder. You’ve got people like Zack Low, you’ve got the Ringer, you’ve got everyone noticing, hey, the Hornets have something going on, not just with Khan Canipple, but they’ve got something going on with this entire rookie class where they’ve identified some players that have both a a mentality, but also a skill level such that not only can they develop for the future, but they can contribute to a team that desperately needs contributions right now. Um, and they’re doing it in a way that feels sustainable. It’s not just hot shooting. In fact, Khan Canipple has had several games this season where the shooting hasn’t been hot, and this was one of them, and he found ways to contribute to winning. Um, so it is uh super exciting for the Charlotte Hornets. You know, it’s you’re feeling two kinds of ways about the team right now. I’m sure you’re looking at it and saying, “My god, I’m just so tired of watching this team without the highest paid player and and the highest drafted player in in LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller. I’m so tired of watching this team without the best players.” And yet, unlike in previous years when that was the case, the future looks a lot brighter when you have three rookies making serious contributions. And even Leah McNeeling having little stretches that you go, okay, he gets some seasoning in Greensboro. He can come back. You know, maybe he’s not going to be a star, but he but they they’re looking at him like a Swiss Army knife. They’re looking at him like when you look at teams that have true depth, they’re 10th and 11th guys. When when two guys have to rest, Liam McNeely can come in and and you know, pop off for 15, five, and three, you know, those like but just like guaranteed like you’re never going to have to worry about him. The idea is that you’re never going to have to worry about Liam McNeely coming in and just being a nothing, just a zero on the box score. I think that’s what they want him uh to develop into. All right, one more here from the Siko Brigade and this one comes from Roger of the 23rd Trey Man division. He’s always he’s all about the Trey Eye and Trey was on display. Um I thought, let me get to my game notes here. There was a particular stretch for Trey Man. I noted into my game notes. Um, huge key offensive contributions for Trey Man during the run in the first half that extended the lead and I thought he hit a couple of big buckets too. Uh, big drive uh in the second half that helped them maintain that lead and not give it up. All right, here’s what um Roger says. Doug, I’ve seen some great chemistry on offense and defense tonight. The rooks were in control. Conchrin and Musa showing some great skill around the board. Seon defended well against ball handlers. Yes, he did. Khan facilitated and stuffed the stat sheet which is becoming the usual for him. I love it. Roger. I love the contributions here on the Sika Brigade and I love what I saw from the Charlotte Hornets tonight. Hopefully uh they can keep it going uh the rest of the week and into the weekend. They’ve got a Friday, Saturday uh backto back. Uh that should be exciting. Walker mail going to take you into uh the weekend. and he will give you all of his thoughts, I’m sure, tomorrow on what he saw inside the arena doing the broadcast. My boy Walker uh getting getting the call up. You love to see it. Uh support him. Listen to Wes and Walker. Every day they do a daily radio show. Every single day on WFNZ. You can check that out. You can check me out on every hornetsboxcore.com. Every every this show locked on Hornets. We’re on every single day. We’re covering this team. uh whether LaMelo ball plays or not, who gets traded, who knows what’s going to happen. One thing you do know consistently, we’ll be here for the Sickos. Uh we are your outlet. We both for the Siko celebrations and the sicko lamentations, we’re here for it all because we’re having fun because it’s basketball. It’s something we that’s the thing like yeah, the losing has been difficult. The injuries have been difficult, but at the end of the day, you get to watch hoops and God bless that. All right, for Walker, I’m Doug saying go Hornets. Go America. Let’s swarm Charlotte. Congrats once again to the Caulbrrener family. We’ll see you next time. [Music]

The Charlotte Hornets beat the Giannis-less Milwaukee Bucks by playing their most physical game of the season, fueled by Ryan Kalkbrenner’s incredible “baby daddy” performance. The team shattered their third-quarter curse, holding Milwaukee to just 22 points, showcasing the immediate impact of their rookie class.

The Charlotte Hornets pulled off a 111-100 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, defined by their most aggressive, physical performance of the season. The defense set the tone, holding the Bucks under 30 points in all four quarters.

The story of the game was the center rotation. Ryan Kalkbrenner, fresh off the birth of his first child, put up 17 points on a perfect 8-of-8 shooting, dominating with his “baby hook.” Moussa Diabate backed him up, owning the glass with 13 rebounds and fueling a 19-to-5 second-chance points advantage for Charlotte.

This win also saw the Hornets finally break their third-quarter curse. They won the period 24-22, playing with composure and committing only three turnovers. While the star rookies had cooler shooting nights, players like Tre Mann stepped up with key offensive buckets. The big question coming out of this win: Does Kalkbrenner’s stellar play change the calculus on whether the Hornets should pursue a star center like Domantas Sabonis?

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