Hornets-129 Heat-121 [Wrap-up]

3 in a row! All three wins versus 2020 playoff teams to boot (wtf are the origins of this saying(it’s not interesting something about ye olde English law)). Malik Monk had a career game, including 36 points on  61% shooting from the field. Monk looked as confident and comfortable as I have ever seen him in the NBA. We needed Monk to make up for Rozier being out with an ankle injury, we really fucking needed Monk when PJ went down in the second half. Monk had our back. Hornets’ players being able to catch fire might be one of this teams’ greatest strengths. Bridges, Ball, Graham, Rozier, Hayward and now Monk have all had games where they went TF off and took over, most of the time from 3 point range too.

I did think Jimmy G(g stands for gets) Buckets had us in the fourth quarter when he rattled off 4 shots in a row immediately followed by a 3 from Duncan Robinson, putting the Hornets down 10 with 3:49 left in the game. Monk followed with an and one that caused Spoelstra to call a time out and design a play for Herro to hit a 3, which he did. Gordon had enough of Herro so he decided to bully the shit out of him on the next two possessions for two easy layups. Heat missed a few more threes (died by it last night), Graham hit a 3 and pair of free throws that brought the game to within 3 with 38 seconds left. Iggy missed a three and the Hornets headed the other way. Borrego made a smart move in letting the guys have 10 or so seconds of run to see if they could get an open shot. Even though the Hornets didn’t get a clean look and had to call a timeout this was one of the smarter moves Borrego has made this year, especially considering Spoelstra is on the other side. Borrego drew up a play for Monk that worked to perfection, and Monk and his steel balls tied the game up at 113. Butler settled for a 3 and missed it to end regulation.

OT was rather chill for the Hornets. Hornets started off with a dime from Ball to Zeller, then bullied Herro some more, then made we last 4 free throws to wrap up the game.

-Eric Collins and Del are a delight to listen to on the broadcast

-Confident Malik is here to stay

-Random ass Max Strus lit us up for 19 points, but we still won, because Monk lit them up more. Is Max Strus Big Truss????

LaMelo started off slow but did not let it ruin the rest of the game for him. 3 TOs in the first half, 0 in the second. Ball once again showed us his ability to affect the game in other ways than scoring.

Bucks-114 Hornets-126 [Wrap-up]

Another  6 Hornets had double digits and BOOM the Hornets upset the Bucks somewhat confidently. The Hornets came out wet from three, hitting 8 out of their 11 in the first quarter. That’s a ridiculous ass clip to shoot at but in order to beat one of the best teams in the league that’s what we had to do and did. We were out to a 20 point lead at one point, before Giannis euro stepped his way through our defense  and to the foul line 50ish times. Terry Rozier rolled his ankle on the last play in the second quarter and the Hornets went into the half up 4.

LaMelo got his first chance to start a half this year and did not let that shit go to waste. He shot 5-7 in the second half and was driving to the hoop at will. The game seemed to slow down for LaMelo as he sized up which defenders he was going to blow by and if he was going to finish at the rim or dish it out. Hayward was consistent all night long and got some difficult buckets that helped slow down some of the Bucks Giannis fueled runs. Devonte’ and LaMelo were able to hold the Bucks off in the fourth with some clutch defense by the rook.

-Another dope highlight oop from LaMelo to (sky)miles

-Monk is really starting to get his feel back and playing well at a perfect time because Terry will probably be out for a bit

-Caleb Martin was ⅔ and made a great defensive play in a big moment in the game. He brought some energy and played about as well as you could expect from him

-Gordon put up 27 and acted as a steady option when it turned into a half court game

-LaMelo had 4 steals, 2 of them in crunch time. They were great effort plays and it was great to see he still had the juice late in the 4th quarter

-Bobby Portis almost had us there but not quite 

Pacers-105 Hornets-108 [Wrap-up]

Huge team win for the Hornets last night in a game that came down to the wire. Six Hornets had double digit points last night and Miles added in 9 of his own. The Hornets also managed to play some decent team defense causing the Pacers FG% and 3P% to drop dramatically from Wednesday night’s performance. There isn’t even a random role player for me to bitch about working us this game!

Sabonis and Turner got their buckets and rebounds last night but limiting Brogdon and the rest of the guards turned out to be enough for the Hornets to hold on and win. The game got a bit hairy in the fourth quarter but it was not very upsetting to me. It felt like the Pacers, who are the better team, got back into this game and not that the Hornets LET them back into the game. Yes, the Pacers outscored the Hornets by 6 in the fourth quarter but that was more because of the Hornets missing open looks and less because of the Hornets having shitty turnovers and boy have we seen some shitty turnovers this season. Hopefully the Hornets will be able to turn this game into some momentum because they’ll need it, the next four games are against the Bucks, Heat, Sixers, and Jazz.

-Shoutout Malik Monk, he’s been playing really well since he started getting minutes again. Hopefully we can get the ball in his hands for more than just 3’s. He probably should have got more time in the second half last night but I’m just happy to have him out there looking comfortable.

-Sabonis has terrible facial expressions that makes him look like a whiney bitch. I haven’t always felt this way about him, maybe it’s the hair.

-PJ should probably be a little more assertive when he literally cannot miss

-LaMelo played great despite missing all 6 of his threes. Hopefully that will keep him getting to the rim because he did that gracefully AF against the Pacers.

-Props will be back for next preview, my bad completely forgot.