The Charlotte Hornets watched their lead dwindle late, but they were able to ride their stars to hang onto a win and leapfrog over the Hawks in the standings.

The Summary

The Hornets took an early lead, but a Hawks timeout led to a run where they took it right back. Kon Knueppel hit four threes within the span of a few minutes and helped the home team out to an eight point lead after one. Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball hit a few threes to start the second, and it looked like the Hornets were going to run away with the game, but they went completely frigid in the last half of the second quarter. The offense slowed down to a crawl and none of the tough shots the Hornets were forced to went in. The Hawks scored 12 straight to narrow the deficit before a pair of Miller free throws ended the run. A couple more free throws from Grant Williams and a buzzer beating three from Sion James got the lead back up to nine at the half.

The Hornets jumped on the Hawks coming out of the break with two LaMelo threes and a Knueppel driving layup. We got another equally bad but probably less viral missed three that drew all sorts of disgust from Dell Curry, and the Hornets lead ballooned. A mini run by the Hawks to close out the quarter had the deficit down to 14 heading into the fourth.

The Hawks continued that run into the fourth and forced a Charles Lee timeout by getting their deficit into single digits. They got a response from Brandon Miller with a little help from LaMelo. The Hornets caught a couple rough breaks with calls. LaMelo got called for an arm to the face of Dyson Daniels after Daniels impeded LaMelo with a reach. A few possessions later, CJ McCollum was called for a foul on Grant Williams. Quin Snyder challenged the call and won despite McCollum pretty clearly having his hand on Williams’ chest as he rose up to shoot. The Hornets won the ensuing jump ball and Williams was fouled again. Snyder challenged again and had the call overturned and the ball back to the Hawks. Williams v officials continued a couple possessions later when Grant was called for fouling Onyeka Okongwu on a three. He made them all.

Jalen Johnson made a floater to cut the margin to one. The Hornets missed again, and the Hawks got a run out off the long miss. Brandon Miller got back and cut off Okongwu’s drive. He lost the ball out of bounds back to the Hornets with just under 30 seconds left. Knueppel knocked down the free throws. A couple of desperation threes were off the mark, and the Hornets escaped.

The Good

That was the last time we’ll see the Hawks in the regular season; the Hornets won the series 3-1. That’s a big deal with the teams occupying the same space in the standings, for now at least. That said, the Hornets have climbed over the Hawks into the 9 seed in the Eastern Conference. That would mean a home game to start a the play-in. Next in line are the Heat and the all important 8 seed. If the Hornets can get there, they’ll have two chances to win one game to make the playoffs. They’re 2.5 games behind the Heat and 3 games behind the Magic for the 8 seed.

Charles Lee has the boys playing defense. The offense has had some ups and downs in the last few games, but the defense is keeping the Hornets in every game and giving them a chance to win. They had the Hawks playing in a crowd and were very connected. There was one play that stood out late in the game where CJ McCollum pump faked to get himself what looked like a wide open three, but Brandon Miller noticed the play developing and flew out from the paint to get hands in McCollum’s vision. The shot missed. It’s a little thing, but in the past that play probably ends in a wide open look for McCollum with all the time he wants to get his shot off.

PJ Hall is a good basketball player. He just shows up, grabs boards, and dunks on people. He notched his first career double double. Jeff Peterson can seemingly build an entire center rotation out of second round picks and G League players.

LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller weren’t particularly efficient, but they made some timely baskets and combined for 55 points. They’re playing the right kind of basketball, so even when the shots aren’t going in at a great rate, they’re still contributing to winning ball.

Kon Knueppel heads into the all star break one 3-pointer away from Brandon Miller’s rookie franchise record for made threes in an entire season. He’ll have 27 games to make 24 3-pointers and break Keegan Murray’s NBA record for threes made by a rookie. Just another efficient day at the office that we’ve simply gotten used to, even though it’s absolutely ridiculous for a rookie.

The Bad

It’s been a recurring theme in some recent games, but the Hornets have to get better with their late game execution. When they get into kill-the-clock mode, they struggle to get efficient looks. I’d like to see them get into their sets a little bit earlier. Scoring efficiently is going to more than cancel out the few seconds they save when they start the offense with like eight seconds on the shot clock.

On the topic of late game execution, Grant Williams had a real rough go of it, but it wasn’t all on him. I don’t know how the officials overturned a call on the floor when you could very clearly see McCollum put his hand on Williams’ chest. Also, on the foul turned turnover, it was one of those situations where the defender cleanly smacks the ball away, but there’s like one frame where the offensive player’s pinky finger is still touching the ball after the defender’s hand passes through. That probably happens ten times a game, and that’s always called out on the defense. That situation with the offensive player getting the last touch by a millisecond only shows up in super slow motion. I’d like it if the referees can use some common sense there and just say the defender knocked the ball out of bounds so the offense retains possession.

Ryan Kalkbrenner had a lot of moments where he struggled with physicality and bodies around him. He had some rebounds knocked away and passes that were taken from him when it looked like he had a catch and finish. His offseason work needs to include a lot of quick catch and finishes and quick twitch jumping.

I don’t think it was a poorly officiated game per say, but it was definitely odd. There were a ton of late whistles, and some of them were really, really late. Like a “player misses the shot, defense rebounds and takes a dribble the other way before the whistle” kind of late. There were also an inordinate number of out of bounds calls where it seemed like none of the officials knew who touched the ball last.

What’s Next

The all star break is here. Kon Knueppel is competing in the Rising Stars Challenge, the Shooting Stars Challenge, and the 3-point shootout. The rest of the squad will rest up. The Hornets will be back in action next Thursday the 19th. They play the Rockets, then the Cavs, then they enter an extended part of the schedule where they could really make up some ground.

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