ATLANTA — Another season, another dreadful disappointment for the Charlotte Hornets.
Charlotte’s season-ending, 29-point loss to Atlanta in the play-in game Wednesday night bore a startling resemblance to the Hornets’ 27-point loss to Indiana in the play-in game a year ago.
In both games, Charlotte marched in as the Eastern Conference’s No. 10 seed and limped out with a whimper, getting drubbed in the biggest game of the season. It was consistency, all right, and exactly the kind that no one wants.
This time was supposed to be different. The Hornets had won their last three games in a row, finished with 43 wins as opposed to 33 the season before and had talked a good game about playing smarter and tougher in the 9-10 play-in game.
Instead, what happened in Atlanta was like when you flick on to a movie on Netflix because it looks promising, then realize 10 minutes in that not only have you seen it before but it wasn’t any good the first time.
“They kicked our a---, as simple as that,” said Hornets forward Miles Bridges, who said last year about Indiana in the playoffs: “They whipped our a—.”
The Hornets lost their cool at times, too. Down by 31 points in the fourth quarter, Bridges got ejected from the game with 6:39 to go and hurled his mouthpiece into the stands, hitting a 16-year-old girl. He was aiming at another fan who was screaming at him, but still — you can’t do that. Bridges said it was a “terrible” thing to do, that he would take full responsibility for the mistake that he wanted to get in touch with the 16-year-old to apologize and “do something nice.”
Will James Borrego return as coach?
That was a specific error. But in a far more global sense, among the biggest questions surrounding this team is this:
Is James Borrego the right coach to lead this team?
This makes six straight seasons that the Hornets haven’t made the actual playoffs — no, the play-in doesn’t count. And the last four of those have come under Borrego.
You can’t blame him for everything. General manager Mitch Kupchak never did provide him with the sort of rim-protecting center every team needs. LaMelo Ball, for all his talent, still does some things — like the “hold-for-one” play at end-of-quarter situations — poorly.
But Borrego is the head guy, ultimately responsible for an on-court product that hasn’t made the playoffs under his tutelage and has lost its two play-in games over the past two years by a combined 56 points. I don’t think owner Michael Jordan will ultimately fire him, but you never know with Jordan. And if he doesn’t, Borrego could and should be on a very hot seat next season.
When I asked Borrego about how he felt about his job security after the game, he said: “I haven’t even thought about that… I’ll go back. I’ll do my job.… I don’t worry about that. It does not faze me. I love this team. I trust this team. We’ve gotten better every single year, and we’ll take a step forward next year.”
Borrego signed a multi-year contract extension in August 2021, shortly before this season. At the time, Kupchak pronounced himself “extremely pleased” with the job the coach had done.
Hawks adjust, Hornets don’t
At the beginning of Wednesday night, the night was fun. The atmosphere was loud for the I-85 rivalry. It was CLT vs. ATL. Melo vs. Trae. 704 vs 404. Hub airport vs hub airport. Traffic vs. TRAFFIC.
But the game quickly devolved. Although both Trae Young and LaMelo Ball were way off from the field early — each went 3 for 13 in the first half — Young’s supporting cast was far better. The Hornets used the same strategy they did in a win against Atlanta on March 16, blitzing Young with two defenders to make him give up the ball and daring the other Hawks to beat them.
But Atlanta adjusted to that strategy, and what resulted was a ton of open three-pointers and a 132-103 win. Borrego and his staff got out-coached by Nate McMillan and his staff in the most significant game of the season. Atlanta ran so far away from Charlotte in a 42-point third quarter that it was still in that period when some Hawks fans started chanting: “We want Cleveland! We want Cleveland!”
That’s where Atlanta is headed next. The winner of the Atlanta-Cleveland game Friday night then gets the reward of starting a best-of-7 series against No. 1 East seed Miami Sunday.
The Hornets had hoped that would be them.
They had packed enough clothes to be gone for an entire week — first to Atlanta, then to Cleveland and then for two playoff games at Miami.
Instead, they’re going home after a single day.
They will watch the playoffs on TV once more.
Once again, they are a disappointment.
