{"id":605704,"date":"2026-02-16T04:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T04:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/605704\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T04:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T04:14:10","slug":"charlotte-hornets-remain-hot-push-win-streak-to-nine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/605704\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlotte Hornets remain hot, push win streak to nine"},"content":{"rendered":"

To fully understand the Charlotte Hornets<\/a>\u2019 recent success and just what kind of run they\u2019re on, look no further than the birthdate of prized rookie Kon Knueppel.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t even a gleam in his mother\u2019s eye the last time the Hornets won nine straight games, which is now the case after Saturday night\u2019s 126-119 victory over the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome,\u201d Knueppel said. \u201cIt\u2019s awesome to win. Now we\u2019re playing meaningful basketball, meaningful games. And so every game, it\u2019s going to be kind of looking at the standings and all that, and we\u2019re battling for playoff position as we hit the home stretch of the season after the All-Star break.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which in itself is a mild upset.<\/p>\n

Just a few weeks ago, it didn\u2019t appear as if the Hornets (25-28) were going to have much of a chance of ending the NBA\u2019s longest current postseason drought. They were chasing the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls and Hawks, among others, in the lower echelon of the Eastern Conference playing tournament.<\/p>\n

But with this recent stretch, paired with the teams around them getting weaker by unloading talent at the trade deadline, the Hornets are in prime position to play well into April for the first time in the better part of a decade. In emerging victorious for nine consecutive outings, they\u2019ve gone to a place the franchise hasn\u2019t been since 1998-99 with the likes of David Wesley and Eddie Jones.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are playoff teams,\u201d Miles Bridges said. \u201cThey won in the playoffs, and we\u2019re trying to get to that level. So, we just don\u2019t want to get complacent and just keep it going. The longest win streak is 10.\u201d<\/p>\n

To reach that, they\u2019ll have to get through Detroit on Monday at Spectrum Center. And the Pistons have had the Hornets\u2019 number for a while now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s against the best team in the East,\u201d Bridges said. \u201cSo, if we want to win in that fashion, that\u2019s going to be bittersweet. But we just got to stay focused and continue to focus on us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are four other things we learned during Charlotte\u2019s mini trip:<\/p>\n

LaMelo\u2019s making most of minutes<\/p>\n

LaMelo Ball seems to be more available in crunch time than ever and the Hornets are in a better position because of it.<\/p>\n

Ball is maxing out at roughly 31 minutes per game, which is right where he was against the Hawks. He logged 10 of those in the fourth quarter, which tied him with Knueppel for the second-most behind Miles Bridges.<\/p>\n

\"LaMelo LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets brings the ball up court. Jacob Kupferman Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cCredit our performance staff, credit Melo for making that adjustment because he wants to play obviously every minute and every game,\u201d coach Charles Lee said. \u201cAnd this was a great decision. I think it puts him in the best position to be available and him being available is helping our team play really well.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, just energy and effort level has improved or increased. Knowing that the stints are going to be maybe a little bit shorter, he\u2019s not trying to manage himself as some guys do when they know that they\u2019re going to play heavy minutes or long stretches.\u201d<\/p>\n

In turn, that is helping his decision making and everyone is benefiting.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis teammates, they\u2019re not putting him in those positions where he\u2019s got to make every play by himself,\u201d Lee said. \u201cI think our screening is improving and our ball movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Miles Miles Bridges of the Charlotte Hornets reacts. Jacob Kupferman Getty Images Josh Green has been efficient<\/p>\n

Quietly, Josh Green is producing.<\/p>\n

Pegged as one of the Hornets\u2019 top reserves after starting all but one of the 68 games he appeared in a season ago, Green has been extremely effective since joining the rotation in December.<\/p>\n

Through 29 games, he\u2019s averaging 4.5 points while shooting 45.3% from the field. He\u2019s been extremely effective from 3-point range \u2014 and really deadly in the corners \u2014 thanks to knocking down 42% of his attempts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel good,\u201d Green said. \u201cI\u2019m just trying to bring what I can bring, shoot the open shots, and I just try to bring as much energy as I can and momentum for the team. Just do whatever I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he\u2019s really enjoying coming off the bench as a super sub.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I think it\u2019s fun,\u201d Green said. \u201cAnd I think another thing is being able to build off the energy of the starters. I think I\u2019ve seen over the last couple months, it\u2019s a huge progression. Our starters are coming with so much energy. So, to be able to come in and go off that, that helps out a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coby White fitting in<\/p>\n

It hasn\u2019t taken long for Coby White<\/a> to get acclimated to his new surroundings.<\/p>\n

Although he\u2019s not going to make his debut until after the All-Star break as he nurses a left calf strain, White is getting comfortable with things behind the scenes as he settles in with the Hornets<\/a>. He was among the final players individually working out with coaching staffers after morning shootaround at the arena, putting up jumpers with assistant Josh Longstaff.<\/p>\n

The North Carolina native is quickly leaving a good impression.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpend a minute with him,\u201d Lee said, \u201cyou can already feel a sense of maturity, a sense of eagerness to want to play and build relationships, a competitiveness to him already. He\u2019s super engaged in everything we do. A great human being. He\u2019s so polite.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gotten texts from people that are just, \u2018Hey, picked him up from the airport or ran into him in the hallway, and he was really polite,\u2019 so I think that he\u2019s already trying to put his fingerprint or put his stamp on our environment and on our culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of White\u2019s injury, the Hornets and Chicago Bulls amended the trade, league sources confirmed to The Observer. Instead of sending the Bulls three second-round picks, the Hornets are only giving them two.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no concern about White\u2019s strain lingering, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe sat down with our performance team, and they will carve out a perfect plan to get him back to play,\u201d Lee said. \u201cBut he\u2019ll be [compliant] and he\u2019s excited to get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roster roulette<\/p>\n

There was a lot of shuffling on the back end of the roster.<\/p>\n

KJ Simpson got released on Friday prior to the team flying to Georgia to complete the mini trip, a move that came on the heels of waiving Pat Connaughton and Mike Conley. Malaki Branham was also acquired via trade from Washington via a three-team trade, and they also picked up Xaiver Tillman from Boston in exchange for cash considerations and a top-55 protected 2030 second-round pick.<\/p>\n

Throw in filling the two-way slot vacated by Simpson\u2019s release by signing Tosan Evbuomwan and there were more than just a few transactions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of those things where it\u2019s, you know, bittersweet or whatever,\u201d Lee said. \u201cYou feel two sides of the coin where you\u2019re sad to see some of the guys go. But those guys did such a great job and I think they helped elevate a lot of the things that we do here from a team day-to-day process, and culture and even their performance on the court. They came in and they made the place better than it was when they got here.<\/p>\n

And now we look forward to some new guys coming in and doing the same thing, helping to elevate our culture, help to elevate the product on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee seemed really excited about the addition of Tillman, who played with Bridges at Michigan State. In six seasons, Tillman has averaged 5.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 15.6 minutes per game in 274 appearances, 21 of which were starts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think bringing in a guy like Xavier, he\u2019s been around a championship organization,\u201d Lee said. \u201cEven in his time in Memphis, they were a playoff team. So, he just brings a lot of experience and knowledge of the game. His competitive spirit, and his ability to be versatile defensively and offensively, too, is really intriguing.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Roderick Boone<\/a><\/p>\n

The Charlotte Observer<\/p>\n

Roderick Boone joined the Observer in September 2021 to cover the Charlotte Hornets and NBA. In his more than two decades of writing about the world of sports, he\u2019s chronicled everything from high school rodeo to a major league baseball no-hitter to the Super Bowl to the Finals. The Long Island native has deep North Carolina roots and enjoys watching \u201cThe Fresh Prince of Bel Air\u201d endlessly.
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