{"id":701972,"date":"2026-04-06T20:16:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/701972\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T20:16:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:16:21","slug":"hornets-have-emerged-as-east-play-in-team-to-beat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/701972\/","title":{"rendered":"Hornets have emerged as East play-in team to beat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Among the Eastern Conference play-in teams, the Hornets may have the most potential to disrupt the postseason picture.<\/p>\n

After a 16-28 start, Charlotte has surged since January, picking up wins over top teams such as the Thunder, Spurs and Celtics, as noted by ESPN\u2019s Ohm Youngmisuk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For starters, the Hornets are getting strong contributions from LaMelo Ball<\/a> and Brandon Miller<\/a>, both of whom are healthy entering the final week. Rookie Kon Knueppel<\/a> has also emerged as a key piece, playing with confidence and putting himself in the Rookie of the Year conversation.<\/p>\n

If Charlotte advances out of the play-in tournament, it could present challenges for higher-seeded teams<\/a>. The Hornets\u2019 up-tempo offense and improved confidence have made them a difficult matchup in recent months.<\/p>\n

Their potential first-round opponent could include the top-seeded Pistons, depending on how the play-in tourney shakes out. Detroit could still be working Cade Cunningham<\/a> back into form following his recent injury.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also some familiarity if Charlotte were to face Boston, as head coach Charles Lee previously served as an assistant with the Celtics.<\/p>\n

Bottom line: While the Hornets lack postseason experience, their recent play suggests they could be a tougher out than their seeding might indicate.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Among the Eastern Conference play-in teams, the Hornets may have the most potential to disrupt the postseason picture.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3777],"tags":[7,684,473,3878,685,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-701972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-charlotte-hornets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-charlotte","10":"tag-charlotte-hornets","11":"tag-charlottehornets","12":"tag-hornets","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116359606046995565","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}