Things got little dicey for Charlotte, but they were able to overcome a 22 point deficit to make it seven straight wins against the New Orleans Pelicans. Here's why.
It's now officially not a secret that the Charlotte Hornets are the hottest team in the NBA. They came into today after a national tv win over the San Antonio Spurs and riding a six game win streak.
Today, for the first time in a little while, they faced some adversity against the Pelicans. After the first half, Charlotte trailed 64-49 and it looked like the streak they've been on would likely be snapped.
Some of that assumption could be prior programming. In the months prior to January, the Hornets likely would have stayed down. They might have chipped away a little in the third, but it probably would not have amounted to much.
Now, the Hornets are playing with momentum and belief. They also have a focus and discipline about them right now that is really coming to the surface.
That should further cement that this recent run they've been on is not a fluke. It's one thing to run into a few tight wins, but it's another to take out teams like OKC, Denver, San Antonio, and to respond to high pressure situations like the Hornets have now faced in their last three wins.
Against the Mavericks, it came down to the final four seconds. Against the Spurs on Saturday, the Hornets only led by two with a minute and a half left to go and hung on. And today the Hornets faced a truly wide deficit for the first time in a while and stormed back to win by seven.
There's no better example of the Hornets toughness than LaMelo Ball, today. He had a moment in the first quarter where he tried to save a pass from going out of bounds and banged heads with head coach, Charles Lee.
LaMelo would return to the game several minutes later and put up 18 points in the first half. The exclamation point for him came in the fourth quarter with ten and a half minutes left when he put down a two handed slam to finally give the Hornets the lead.
The Hornets have won several types of ways, beating many different caliber of teams. The thing that has been constant is the energy of the offense, the discipline and maturity that players like Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller are bringing, and the growing belief that the Hornets can play with anybody on any given night.
The Hornets will have yet another opportunity to show where they are as a team on Thursday night when they head to Houston to take on Kevin Durant and the Rockets.