Knowing the schedule that’s in front of them over the next week, beginning with Wednesday night’s matchup against Boston, the Charlotte Hornets can’t sugarcoat it.
They are in a unique position, one that could have implications on the jumbled standings as they attempt to power through the remaining games as they motor toward the All-Star break later this month.
“The beauty in this schedule is we control our own destiny,” coach James Borrego said. “We ain’t looking for help. We are not looking for somebody to bail us out. We get to control our own destiny. We get to control our effort, our focus, our wins, our losses. We don’t have to rely on somebody right here. This is (about) us playing our best basketball and making a climb in the Eastern Conference.”
That’s why the Hornets can’t be on the wrong side of outcomes such as their 113-107 defeat to the Celtics at TD Garden and squander the perfect opportunity that’s landed at their feet. Immersed in a stretch of five consecutive games during which they will be tangling with teams they are jockeying with in the Eastern Conference, the Hornets can’t afford too many slip-ups or they could soon find themselves sliding deeper into play-in tournament position.
They don’t want that.
Wasting productive nights by their rising star point guard in a game against the team that now has a 2-1 head-to-head advantage can come back and haunt them in April. The Hornets’ furious fourth-quarter rally powered by the brilliance of LaMelo Ball came up short and his career-best 38-point outburst to go with nine assists and six rebounds weren’t quite enough to push them past the Celtics. Terry Rozier described the game as a playoff-type atmosphere.
The Celtics picked up a game on the seventh-place Hornets (28-24) in the standings, moving to within a half-game. Boston will hold the series edge until they meet for the final team this season March 9, which comes on the tail end of a back-to-back for the Hornets that begins with a date against Brooklyn. Things are a bit cramped.
“Everybody wants to make the playoffs and it’s tight right now,” said Ball, who had six fourth-quarter assists. “So it’s definitely going to be tight down the stretch.”
Taking advantage of this daunting span would be in their best interest. Especially given the next four games are all at Spectrum Center, tying their second-longest homestand of the season and serving as their lengthiest since mid-November. The Hornets square off with Cleveland, Miami, Toronto and Chicago over the next week leading into the Feb. 10 trade deadline.
“These Eastern Conference teams, they are fighting for spots just like we are down the line,” Rozier said. “It’s going to be tough games like tonight. So we are looking forward to the Miamis, Detroits, the Cavs and stuff like that, staying aggressive and hopefully we don’t come up short like tonight.”
In order to do that, execution in the waning minute must become more consistent. Climbing back into it after yielding a 34-point third quarter and trailing by double digits at the start of the fourth, their spirited charge got derailed when they committed two fouls that led to four points in the closing 1:14. Missed 3-pointers — a blocked one coming out of a timeout by P.J. Washington, who was in the starting lineup for the fourth time this season, and another by Ball — in the final 22.5 seconds doomed them in the clutch.
Washington’s attempt came with the Hornets trailing by two and Ball’s was hoisted when they were down by four. Neither were the best of looks, though, and should end up as teachable moments so they understand fully what to do when the situation arises again.
“Just taking what the defense gives you for real,” Ball said. “I feel like we were just pretty much trying to take a three right there, me and PJ. So maybe we could have took it up for a better shot or drove it. I don’t know. But we’ll go back and watch and see from there. But they are very athletic. I feel like they cover ground good.”
Speaking of which, the main trick now for the Hornets is to do their best not to lose a single game over these next two weeks as they speed toward the All-Star break. Even though they haven’t been four games over .500 at this point of the season since 2000 when they were 30-22, they are far from partying like it’s 1999 all over again.
“I wish we were 10 games ahead of everybody,” Borrego said. “That’s just not the reality. This is where we are at. But in the end, it’s going to make us better. This is what the league has wanted, the excitement in the East. I think the East has gotten better. There’s depth there. Obviously, the trade deadline and all that can turn this into even more excitement.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen over the next week. So it’s great for our league, it’s great for our young team and now we’ve got to produce. We’ve got to go earn this thing. No one is going to hand it to us. But in the end, that’s what makes you better. This is only going to make us better in the end.”
That has to be the case. Otherwise, their fate will mirror their evening against the Celtics. These are the kinds of games they have to not only remember, but ensure they happen less frequently. Or not at all.
“We are playing against a good team with good veterans and they slow the gym down,” Rozier said. “If they are up by a little bit with a little bit of time, it’s hard when you have veterans like they do. But that’s the team we are trying to become and we are just going to keep working at it.”
