Welcome To Seventh Heaven

Hornets storm back to avenge of the the inexcusable losses of the season vs. New Orleans

Something is different about this franchise this season. Truly.

Don’t believe me? What if I told you that in the first half, the Charlotte Hornets would be down as much as 22, have their head coach and star point guard (literally) butt heads, the team not being able to hit water from the boat AND despite all that win the game?

If I told you this particular permutation of events were going to happen, you’d have me committed or drug tested. Rightfully so. Because in Charlotte, merely one of those usually derails a season much less a game.

At the risk of cursing this team, it’s different this season. I truly believe that. It’s not JUST the offense that makes me believe, it’s not the defense as the Hornets keep ANOTHER team under 100 points. In fact the Pelicans only scored 31 points in the entire second half, now some of that is due to some HORRIFIC shot lock. But a lot of it also has to do with the fact that the Hornets didn’t feel sorry for themselves and kept grinding away.

Let’s be honest, we all rolled our eyes at the “Hornets DNA” tagline that VP Jeff Peterson and Charles Lee rolled out at their introductory pressers. But damn if these two didn’t keep it kayfabe and instill an entire culture shift in little over 12 months. Even more impressive than that, everyone on the roster buying in.

Folks, we’re officially in enjoy the ride territory. One game back of the Play-In after a 4-14 start to the season. Laissez les bons temps rouler!

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• LaMelo is blossoming: If you want to nitpick, you’re going to complain about the amount of shots he took to get to 20 points. And honestly, I don’t care. At some point (collective) we just might have to admit that LaMelo might be the Mick Foley of the NBA. The offense is unorthodox, and colors well outside of the lines. But you can’t argue that it’s not effective or that they’re not winning plays.
  
  Add that to the fact that he got a NASTY gash above his eye that would’ve made most of us stop playing, and continued to soldier though it despite getting slapped in the face many more times. Like…we’re going to need to just shout down the “LaMelo’s not a winning player” stuff. Truly, make them find shame.

• Providence Day Stand Up: Grant Williams picked a great day to have his first REALLY impactful game. 16 points on 5 of 7 shooting. He was the guy who kept things afloat during the disastrous first half. And in the second half, was the guy who really frustrated Zion Williamson into some bad shots. If this team is going to make an appearance in the playoffs, this Grant Williams is going to need to make many more appearances.

• Sell Your Stock at Your Own Risk: Ryan Kalkbrenner’s 1st half was nothing to write home about. In fact, if you read Hornets Twitter, most of them were probably telling him to go home.
  
  Ryan Kalkbrenner’s second half, probably swung the game for the Hornets defensively as he changed multiple shots and played like a true seven footer. 10 points, 4 rebounds and three blocks in the 2nd half alone. I wouldn’t expect this kind of consistency from ANY rookie. But if this Kalkbrenner shows up a few more times, it changes the calculus.

Onto H-Town!

FIN.