Hornets extend win streak to seven straight games

NBAE

LaMelo Ball bounced back from a cut over his eyelid to score 24 points in a 102-95 win against New Orleans at Spectrum Center.

Wins come in many forms — even from a 22-point first half deficit.

The Charlotte Hornets (23-28) found a way to do just that on Monday, beating the New Orleans Pelicans (13-39) 102-95 for their seventh straight thanks to a stout second half. Coach Charles Lee was proud of his team’s resiliency.

“That was a really good team that we played today,” Lee said. “... They kept us on our heels all night, but credit to our team, too. At halftime, we talked about this was going to be like a character game, and we’re going to see how we respond. We’ve built a ton of resiliency over the last month or so, and I love a lot of the things that we were doing, and we were just going to see if we could kind of figure it out and rely on the habits that we had just built the previous games.”

The Hornets got a scare early in the first quarter when guard LaMelo Ball collided with Lee, causing a gash over Ball’s eye. Ball went to the locker room before returning to finish with a team-high 24 points and a game-best plus-24 rating when he was on the floor. 

“That is just Melo continuing to compete,” Lee said. “And I took a play off, and you are not supposed to take any plays off. I thought the ball was going out of bounds, and I was going to save it from going into the stands, and he was going to save the ball. We went head-to-head, and credit to him, he didn’t yell at me too bad, but I apologized. Obviously, I love his spirit of like, ‘OK, let me get back. I’m going to get cleaned up. I want to get back out there.”

“And he was right back out there, so it just shows the growth that he continues to have to be able to take a bump or bruise like that, shake it off and come back out.”

Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller added 17 and 16 points respectively for Charlotte, but it was Grant Williams who had his best total performance since returning from knee surgery. Williams had 16 points on 5-for-7 shooting and nine rebounds in just 19 minutes. 

“It was good to see a couple [shots] go down,” Williams said. “You know, just continue to progress. It felt good. And I know my teammates put me in a lot of great positions. So, thankful to them for that. … I’m here for whatever the team needs me to do, and I think tonight it gave us a little bit of space and pace.”

Lee applauded Williams and his teammates for their leadership when they struggled in the first half.

“I see them all talking,” Lee said, “Brandon sometimes coming off the court was very vocal. [Pat] Connaughton is always grabbing individual guys and sometimes grabbing the whole group. Grant is constantly talking to the group. The same type of thing. So, I don't want to just say it was one person. I think it's collective voices. But those are definitely the ones that kind of start the conversation.”

The Hornets are now in a relatively unfamiliar spot as one of the NBA’s hottest teams with the longest winning streak and opponents are going to want to end it. Williams, who played in Boston when the Celtics won the 2023-24 Finals with a 64-18 regular season record, said it is motivation.

“Right now, it's kind of unique, because I think Charlotte hasn't done it that often,” he said, “but all of us just have to put our heads down, not worry about the streak. We worry about the game that’s in front of us, so the competitive edge that will show throughout each game, and also just getting everybody’s best shot, that’s something you want if you’re a true basketball player and a true lover of the game.”

Comments