Surprise! Streaking Hornets are the NBA's hottest team 

CHARLOTTE HORNETS

Collin Sexton scored 21 points on 5-of-5 shooting from three-point range in the Charlotte Hornets' 111-106 win against San Antonio Jan. 31, 2026 at Spectrum Center. The Hornets are on a six-game win streak, their longest since 2016.

Hum diddly dee, the Charlotte Hornets (22-28) can’t be beat — at least of late.

That catchphrase is FanDuel Sports Network play-by-play announcer Eric Collins’, and he has been saying it quite a lot with the Hornets on a six-game win streak that’s their longest since 2016 and has them within 2.5 games of 10th place in the Eastern Conference.

A snowstorm moved Saturday’s game against San Antonio to 12 p.m. from its original time of 7 p.m. but it didn’t matter for the highly motivated Hornets. Charlotte withstood a late push by the Spurs and held on to win 111-106 behind Brandon Miller’s 26 points. It was the Hornets’ fourth straight win against San Antonio.

“What impresses me most is our ability to respond,” Hornets’ coach Charles Lee said. “The ability to match their physicality, and at times exceed it. That’s a really physical defense and I thought that (San Antonio) switching their defenses up at times slowed us down a little bit. Our guys didn’t let that stop them. I thought we did a great job screening and playing through physicality.”

Like he has done often this season off the bench, Charlotte guard Collin Sexton provided a big spark with 21 points on 7-for-8 shooting and 5-for-5 from three-point range. 

“I’m really happy for Collin,” Lee said. “Throughout the last month, I had felt his presence, his intensity and his competitiveness defensively on every possession. Defensively, we see him come up with a couple of deflections or scrappy steals, getting into people. I think he’s really impacting that side of the ball. 

“Offensively, at times he commits some turnovers, but they're in an effort to get himself downhill, get us to the free throw line and get a piece of the paint. He's able to score for himself but also open up things for other people. We needed every one of his buckets and I’m glad he got to see it go in today because he’s been trying to play the right way for a while.”

Sexton had a simple message.

“I would honestly say that we are coming,” he said. “I would say that it is going to take an everyday process — it’s not going to happen overnight. It’s not going to be something that drastically changes, you have to take baby steps. I feel like tonight was one of those games that we just dug deep and just continued to fight. When they threw up their best shot, we threw ours right back.”

The win was the Hornets’ third straight in clutch time and it has proven that a healthy squad can be one of the NBA’s most dynamic, explosive and overall fun teams to watch. What’s stood out in recent games?

“I would say staying together,” Sexton said. “Each time at timeouts we talk about executing, making sure we all are executing. Making sure that we are aware of the time and score of each possession, and we know that at the end of the day when it is crunch time we have to make the right plays and not the home run plays.”

The Hornets take on New Orleans Pelicans at Spectrum Center on Feb. 2. The Pelicans (13-37) are a favorable matchup for a streaking Bugs team at an abysmal 5-18 on the road. With a win, the Hornets can continue to inch closer to a possible play-in berth. 

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