CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The scene unfolding in the final seconds is becoming the norm for the Charlotte Hornets.
With the home team in control and on track to send them home happy, the fans collectively acknowledge the Hornets’ effort in ways that hadn’t been happening previously. It’s pretty hard to miss these days.
“I have felt it,” coach James Borrego said Friday night. “I feel a homecourt advantage here this season. I do. Absolutely. I feel the energy from the crowd. I think the crowd has come out. They are excited by this team. We are energized by our fans. It’s a great marriage as I’ve said before, and I expect that to continue. It’s only going to get better.
“We’ve got to make this a hostile environment, an exciting environment where our guys feel comfortable but edgy here as well.”
They’re making some pretty good progress. By dismantling Oklahoma City, 121-98, at Spectrum Center, the Hornets raised their record at home to 13-6 and kept the good vibes going, refusing to suffer a letdown following their two impressive road wins in New York and Boston.
They’re also now six games over .500 for the first time since 2015-16. Coincidentally, excluding their play-in tournament loss to Indiana last season, that’s the last time they truly made it to the playoffs.
This steady improvement is happening for the Hornets on both sides of the ball, too. For the fourth time in the past six games, they held the opposition under triple digits. In fact, they have yet to lose in nine games this season when that occurs.
Here are some of the main takeaways from the Hornets’ seventh win in their past eight games:
Productive P.J.
P.J. Washington didn’t look like someone who was getting over a right hip contusion.
Listed as questionable leading up to tipoff, Washington had one of his best shooting displays of the season. He drained 6 of 7 shots initially beyond the 3-point arc before slightly cooling off in the second half following a blistering showing during the first 24 minutes and finishing with season-high 20 points.
Still, those six makes from 3-point range were a season high. When he’s on, he’s knocking them down at his favorite spot from straightaway.
Sharing is caring
Effective ball movement is an integral part of the Hornets’ game when they are winning, and they had the distribution going against the Thunder. They accumulated 34 assists on their 43 field goals.
Of that total, 22 came in the first half, leaving the Hornets one shy of their highest output in a half this season. They were two assists shy of matching the franchise’s all-time mark for assists in a half.
Tough spill for Jalen
Seems like just about every time the Hornets reach full strength it doesn’t last very long.
Yet another name got added to the injury report mid-game, meaning the Hornets had their entire roster together for only a whopping 54 minutes of action following Kelly Oubre’s return from health and safety protocols. Jalen McDaniels left the game in the second quarter with a left ankle sprain and didn’t return.
McDaniels took a nasty spill following a fast-break layup attempt and landed awkwardly, rolling his ankle. He had to be helped off the floor because he couldn’t put too much weight on his left foot, heading directly to the locker room.
Borrego said he expects McDaniels will miss some time.
Going national
Apparently the Hornets are slowly graduating from simply being a “League Pass alert” team to one that’s piquing even more interest nationwide. The extra exposure awaits.
The NBA announced the Hornets’ matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday will now also be broadcast on ESPN, and the game time has changed to 7:30 p.m. to accommodate the switch. It marks the Hornets’ fifth national TV broadcast of the season and second in a little over a week. Their solid win in Boston was also televised on ESPN.
Since the team returned to Charlotte, it hasn’t had more than four national TV games in a single season. But that’s about to change.
“I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” Borrego said. “We want to stay in the present. We want to stay in the moment. Friday will come. Now, our guys deserve some credit. They are being recognized and that’s a positive. We’ve got to focus on (the present) and it will make next week even more impactful and bigger and even more exciting.”
