Broad Street Bullied
Hornets blow a 10-point lead in Philly to earn their 1st loss of the season.
If you’re a fan of Charlotte basketball, watching this team over the past 20-something years has made losing heartbreaking games feel familiar. It’s the cousin you always see at the cookout or an uncomfortable pair of slides that you’ve never gotten rid of. The familiarity is just…there.
But those losses, especially in the early portion of the season where hope is at its highest, are the toughest to swallow. This Philly loss, where the team blew a ten-point lead in the fourth, is just another log on the fire.
Enough agony, let’s get to the stuff I loved and the stuff I didn’t love.
What I loved: LaMelo Ball does the little things*
Look man, I saw LaMelo Ball diving on the floor. In a defensive stance. Going to the cup multiple times. Getting his hands in passing lanes and deflecting passes .Drawing Fouls. I. SEEN’T. IT.
And outside of the defensive stuff, if I never saw Melo doing any of that again, I‘d be perfectly fine with it.
What I DIDN’T love: The Hornets have a big man problem.
The Hornets having a big man problem isn’t new news, but the hole in the boat might be bigger than we think. Joel Embiid had 20 points and 2 rebounds in 20 minutes, which you kinda expect because it’s Joel Embiid and these are the Charlotte Hornets. The reason I say the Hornets have a big man problem is because WASHED Andre Drummond had 13 rebounds and seven points in a scant 16 minutes. You would’ve thought Andre Drummond went into an oversized Delorean and out came Pistons Drummond (complete with the woeful free throw shooting). Ryan Kalkbrenner couldn’t stop him. Moussa Diabate couldn’t stop him. You could make the case along with Tyrese Maxey, that Drummond swung the game.
Grant Williams, please get well soon.
What I loved: Sion James. Nuff Said.
Sion James makes shit happen. Period. 10 points, two rebounds, and an assist in 19 minutes. Thing is, while the counting stats look pristine, you could make a case that his impact was far deeper than what was on the stat sheet. After a scalding hot 1st quarter, Sion James came in and cooled off Tyrese Maxey to the point where he was largely inefficient for the rest of the game. And if you ask me (and I’m assuming you are if you’re reading this), if we’re going to be upset about a player not getting subbed in late in the 4th, be mad Sion wasn’t in late. Which leads us to…
What I DIDN’T love: the 4th quarter collapse
To call the Hornets 4th quarter collapse a disaster would be a slap in the face to disasters. Questionable substitutions, the inability to defend without fouling, the lack of poise late, missing wide open 3’s. Short of another injury, damn near everything that could go wrong, did. The concern you have is that kind of clusterfuck quarter doesn’t turn one loss into a second straight loss against the Wizards on Sunday night.
See you guys on Sunday night.