Captured the Flag(g)

The Hornets survive a near 50-burger from Cooper Flagg to win their fifth in a row

Holy Crap that was fun.

It’s near midnight on the east coast and my heart rate still hasn’t dropped. We just watched the Charlotte Hornets and Dallas Mavericks throw absolute haymakers at one another for 48 minutes in January. Usually these are the dog days of the season, where you start to see the effort sort of wane.

Yeah, that didn’t happen tonight.

Tonight we were treated to a SHOW. Kon went for 34. Cooper Flagg went for 49 and looked damn near unstoppable for damn near the entire game, except for the final two offensive plays for the Mavs. You had the understory of guys like PJ Washington and Caleb Martin noticeably going extra hard against their former team. Brandon Miller surviving the 4th with 5 fouls and still making an impact on both ends. LaMelo making winning plays down the stretch. Oh yeah, and Eric Collins in his duffle with a substitute broadcasting partner.

More importantly, the Hornets have now ripped off five straight wins. This one was different than the others in that it’s one of the clutch variety. But five straight and this team just looks different from where they were a month ago. Much less the beginning of the season.

So what will the Hornets have to do to earn their sixth straight victory? Beat Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on National TV on Saturday. No biggie.

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• Kon Knueppel broke down the rookie wall: If you were worried about Kon Knueppel’s performance lately, worry no more. Broke PJ Washington’s rookie record for made three point field goals in a game. Used the full offensive repertoire tonight to remind people that even if the rookie of the year award is eventually going to Flagg, Kon ain’t a slouch either. Oh and remember, that final Flagg turnover was a deflection that Kon created. And then there’s the free throws to ice the game afterwards.

• LaMelo Ball’s sneaky big 2nd half: The focus is rightly going to go to Kon. But I really want to highlight what LaMelo did in the 2nd half. 6 for 10 from the floor, including 5 of 6 from distance. When he played, his fingerprints were clearly all over the offense and the defense. The counting stats may be down, but make no mistake, the offense is LaMelo’s to control. Like I wrote yesterday, certain conversations are no longer worth entertaining. LaMelo Ball not being a winning player is absolutely one of them.

• Miles Bridges, the punisher of switches: If you’ve watched the Charlotte Hornets for any stretch of time underneath Charles Lee, you know the offense essentially boils down to moving the ball and consistently applying pressure to the weakest link on your defense. One of the newest ways the Hornets offense does this — getting Bridges involved in the pick and roll and punish the vastly smaller defender. When Bridges is rolling, this becomes an easy way to generate points for the Hornets.

• The Backup Point Guard Spot will remain a problem for the rest of the season: I understand the clamoring for someone to be in the backup point guard spot to solidify this bench. Especially when Sion James and Collin Sexton, while each having moments to help solidify this win, leave a lot to be desired. But if you step back and take a look at the options this team may have, it might just be best to just piecemeal the backup PG situation until you can address it this summer. Like think about it this way, the best possible addition this team can make might be a guy who’s team took off and started winning games at an insane clip when they sent him home (Chris Paul).
  
  My advice to Hornets fans who want a new backup point guard — start looking at the film of Taahaad Pettiford, Kingston Flemings, Keaton Wagler and Mikal Brown Jr. With three picks in the upcoming draft, the backup point guard spot is likely getting filled there.

Onto Spectrum for a date with Wemby.

FIN.