The Charlotte Hornets didn’t play that well for most of Saturday afternoon.
After three quarters, neither LaMelo Ball, Kon Knueppel nor Miles Bridges had reached double figures. The three-point barrage Charlotte rained over its past three games had largely dried up.
And still, the Hornets (30-31) won comfortably, which is how you can tell that this team has the makings of something special.
To play well and win is not a feat in the NBA.
To play poorly, or at best in a mediocre fashion, but still win is something else entirely.
Charlotte’s 109-93 victory over Portland in a Saturday matinee on “HBCU Day” came before a sellout crowd of 19,634 that wanted to see if the Hornets would continue their recent hot streak. They did with a crowd-pleasing fourth-quarter surge, winning for the 14th time in 17 games, this time over a Portland team that came in with exactly the same record as Charlotte.
“In past years, we would have lost that game by a lot,” said Miles Bridges, the longest-tenured Hornets player, “just because our offense wasn’t going.”
It felt sloppy, as both teams committed 16 turnovers and shot under 42% overall. In its three previous games, Charlotte had tied the NBA team record for 3-pointers made in a three-game span (72). After hitting 25, 25 and 22 3s over those three games, this time they made only 16.
“The great thing about our team, what makes us so good, is we have a great defensive mindset while also being able to have an explosive, dynamic offense as well,” Hornets coach Charles Lee said.
It’s also helpful that the Hornets are currently healthy (find your nearest oak tree here). If the Hornets can win their next game Tuesday night at home vs. a pretty woeful Dallas team, they will have finally climbed back to .500 (they were 16-28 on Jan. 21st).
Charlotte’s Grant Williams shoots a jumper against Portland Saturday. The Hornets won at home, 109-93. TRACY KIMBALL tkimball@charlotteobserver.com
With 21 games left in the regular season, Charlotte continues to float around the 9/10 range in the Eastern Conference. If the season ended today, Charlotte would find itself in the play-in tournament, but with some work to do to get in the actual playoffs for the first time since 2016.
Charlotte started its best lineup Saturday: Brandon Miller, Moussa Diabate, Knueppel, Ball and Bridges. That starting lineup is now 18-2 this season.
But the Hornets also got a big boost Saturday from backup point guard Coby White (20 points), playing in his first home game in Charlotte. He was watched by Roy Williams, his former college coach at UNC. Williams was wearing a pink sweater on the front row and rooting White on at every turn. Ol’ Roy was making a basketball day of it and, White said, was scheduled to drive to Chapel Hill Saturday right after the Hornets game to see the Tar Heels play.
White said the “joy” his new teammates play with is “infectious.”
“A lot of the guys are pretty much younger than me,” said White, who’s 26. “They just have that youthfulness about them — that pure, genuine love for the game.”
It’s easier to love the game when it loves you back, of course, in the form of winning. The Hornets are doing that now, even on days when the shots don’t fall. Knueppel (4-for-11, 10 points) and Ball (6-for-19, 15 points) both had subpar shooting days, leaving Brandon Miller (26 points) and White to make up the difference.
“It’s a sign of maturity to not be so dependent on making shots,” Lee said. “We talk a lot about what you can control, and so what we can control is our shot quality, making sure we’re getting a good shot. But once that ‘make or miss’ leaves your hands, who knows? But I do think that they understand that we can’t live and die with every shot or every miss or every make or whatever it is, we have to move on to the next play.”
The Hornets are doing that now, winning games in a variety of ways. With a quarter of the season left, they’ve got the two “H” words you want the most at this time of year:
Health and hope.
This story was originally published February 28, 2026 at 4:50 PM.
The Charlotte Observer
Columnist Scott Fowler has written for The Charlotte Observer since 1994 and has earned 26 APSE awards for his sportswriting. He hosted The Observer’s podcast “Carruth,” which Sports Illustrated once named “Podcast of the Year.” Fowler also conceived and hosted the online series and podcast “Sports Legends of the Carolinas,” which featured 1-on-1 interviews with NC and SC sports icons and was turned into a book. He occasionally writes about non-sports subjects, such as the 5-part series “9/11/74,” which chronicled the forgotten plane crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 in Charlotte on Sept. 11, 1974.
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