Charlotte Hornets defense getting where it needs to be

CHARLOTTE HORNETS

Collin Sexton (8) of the Charlotte Hornets brings the ball up court while guarded by Jamal Shead (23) of the Toronto Raptors in the first half during their game at Spectrum Center on Jan. 7, 2026.

Even in a loss, the Charlotte Hornets’ defensive effort showed.

Charlotte (13-24) lost 97-96 to the Toronto Raptors (23-15) Wednesday at Spectrum Center on Immanuel Quickly’s three-point buzzer beater. While the Hornets didn’t extend a two-game win streak, it was the third straight contest in which they held an opponent under 100 points. 

On Jan. 5, Charlotte beat Oklahoma City 124-97, taking down the NBA’s second highest scoring team at 121.2 points per game. Prior, on Jan. 3 the Hornets fell behind by double figures to the Chicago Bulls and rallied to win 112-99. The Bulls are ranked No. 9 in scoring at 117.8 points per game. 

“It is great to see the physicality I think we’re bringing on that end,” Hornets’ coach Charles Lee said. “I didn’t think that if we held them to 97 they would be hitting a game-winner. But I still thought we had too many possessions where the communication wasn’t great. Some of our read exchanges weren’t very good, so, we can get better. I think that the beauty of this group is that we do keep getting better.”

Charlotte ran numerous lineups against the Raptors and while Lee hopes the communication improves, he is confident in the commitment to a high standard of defense and execution.

“I think that the ability to play zone defenses has helped as well,” Lee said. “We can go to some switching lineups with P.J. Hall in center field or some different guys. So, I think that the group is committed to having an open mind defensively, to just a lot of things. Offenses are sophisticated. Offenses catch rhythm, and so I think we need to be able to have different layers.”

On offense, a bright spot for Charlotte was guard Collin Sexton, who led the team in scoring with 22 points and played the majority of crunch time minutes in the fourth quarter. 

“I liked how that group was playing,” Lee said. “Also, I was just trying to be a little bit mindful of where we are in a back-to-back and our allocation of minutes to put us all in the best position to be healthy. So, I thought the group did enough to keep us in it and keep it close and it helped us extensively at times too with their defensive aggressiveness. Collin’s ability to knock down the three – I thought he scored a pretty good clip tonight. … It’s just a tough decision I have to make.”

Guard LaMelo Ball returned to the floor with just under two minutes to play and was clutch with a driving layup with 1.6 seconds to go to put the Hornets up two. Ball subbed in for Sexton and although he was the hot hand, Sexton didn’t appear upset to be taken out late.

“I’m just playing my role,” Sexton said. “Playing my role to the best of my ability. God has put me in this position to just be able to play basketball. At the end of the day, for me to go out there and perform is one of those things that will always be super exciting, but it’s great when I see my teammate make a great play.”

The Hornets are at home again on Thursday against Indiana and will likely have Brandon Miller back after sitting out against Toronto for load management purposes. Indiana is the worst team in the NBA based on record (6-31) but Sexton doesn’t want his teammates to get too confident.

“We have to be ready to go tomorrow,” he said. “We are playing Indiana, and they’re trying to get a win, so they’re going to be playing really hard and give us their best shot each and every possession. So, we have to be ready to go.”

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