Pig Pickin Time

The Hornets go into the All-Star Break 9th in the East after beating Atlanta 110-107

Merriam-Webster defines culture as “ the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization.” . If tonight is any indication, a little less than 19 months in Charles Lee’s tenure as the Charlotte Hornets organization, it’s safe to say a culture has been established.

Creating culture is a lot like smoking a pig — a lot of elements need to be established in order to get it right. If the meat aint seasoned right, your flavors will be bland. Similarly, if the details on defense are ignored, you’re not winning many games.

If the smoker isn’t set to the right temperature, you’re not getting the crispy skin needed. Similarly, if your team isn’t sticking to their offensive philosophies, you’re not winning many games.

And most importantly, if that pig ain’t on that smoker long enough, you’re not getting the seasonings to marry the flavor of that crispy skin. Similarly, it takes a long time to get people to buy into roles, but when they do watch out.

Less than three months ago, the Charlotte Hornets were 12th in the East with a 4-14 record on the season. Since then the Hornets have won 22 of the next 37 games to find themselves only three games under .500, ninth place in the East and only three games back of 7th place, which would guarantee AT LEAST one home game in any play-in tournament situation.

And on a night where this team in the fourth quarter gives up a 15-3 run late, ends up pulling it out due to some savvy late game maneuvers AND some incredible scrambling defense late (shouts to you Josh Green), the Hornets pull out another close game that they typically lose.

Hornets fans, the pig isn’t finished in the smoker yet. But continue to enjoy the aroma, it’s almost finished.

(Editor’s Note: I make ZERO apologies if this analogy made you hungry)

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• Brandon Miller is taking a leap and it’s a sight to behold: 31 points on a night where everyone was kinda focused on getting some rest during the All-Star break. Tying the franchise record for consecutive free throws made with 53. Oh and a spectacular baptism of Onyeka Okongwu ..
  

  

  NBA@NBA

  BRANDON MILLER TAKES FLIGHT AND SLAMS IT HOME ✈️

  1:49 AM · Feb 12, 2026 · 39.7K Views

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  36 Replies · 83 Reposts · 376 Likes

  I’ll keep typing this out, but there was clearly someone perturbed by the chatter than Kon was the best player on the team talk. We’re seeing a clear continuation of his rookie season.
  
  

  
  
  

• The Counting Stats can lie: If you just looked at the box, you might think that backup big PJ Hall outplayed starting center Ryan Kalkbrenner. Box Score scouting is a bad habit of many a fan and it’s why I highly suggest watching the replay if possible. I say that because Ryan Kalkbrenner had the loudest five point, six rebound and two block game I’ve seen from a center in a while. For decent swaths of the game, Kalkbrenner stifled the Hawks in the paint and kept them off the glass. For all of Kalbrenner’s flaws, you have to remember that he’s a rookie and hasn’t really been through a full NBA offseason strength training program. Once that changes, you’ll see why he’ll eventually become the starting center of this team long term. Mainly because you can’t teach that sort of height and wingspan, nor can you teach those defensive instincts.
  
  All that being said, PJ Hall putting up another solid game as the backup big is still very intriguing. Thus far, Hall is proving to be a standard contract type of player and should he continue on a decent trajectory, he’s going to end up being the third center on this team.

• I guess we gotta talk about the suspensions here: Earlier in the day, the NBA announced the suspensions for Miles Bridges, Moussa Diabate, Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart. Duren received two games, Bridges and Diabate received four games a piece and Stewart got hit with seven games. I don’t have a problem with the amount of games Duren, Bridges or Moussa received.
  
  Beef Stew on the other hand, yeah. Seven games feels entirely too small for a guy who was a previous offender of on-court shenanigans. Especially since for decades we were told that leaving the bench was an automatic one-game suspension. Leaving the bench to go throw hands with a player on the other team should’ve been at minimum a ten-game suspension. It feels like a dangerous precedent was set because the NBA might’ve enabled dudes to charge the court whenever another one of these kerfuffle’s start. And all because it was a) a monday night in Charlotte, not in MSG and b) because Stew charged after Miles Bridges. Let’s just hope these pendulum-like standards don’t get anyone hurt down the line.

FIN.