Charlotte Hornet Malik Monk had ‘been waiting for my moment.’ It finally arrived
It has been three years since Malik Monk’s last game-winner. By his recollection, it was his one season at Kentucky versus North Carolina.
Most of what’s happened since has been fits and starts. A 20-point game here, five turnovers there. He has never harnessed the talent that prompted the Charlotte Hornets to draft him 11th overall in 2017.
This week, for whatever reason, it’s clicked.
“Things haven’t worked extremely in his favor the last couple of years,” coach James Borrego said after Monk hit a 3-point buzzer-beater against the Detroit Pistons. “He’s owned that, and he’s moving forward.”
The Hornets had just a second left in regulation in a tie game to inbound and shoot, after Pistons guard Derrick Rose threw the ball out of bounds. Monk lobbied for the play to be run for him, according to teammate Devonte Graham, and he came through with a 26-foot jumper off a feed from rookie Cody Martin.
It wasn’t just that shot that was special, it’s everything that preceded it, both in this game and all week. Against the Pistons, Memphis Grizzlies and Philadelphia 76ers, Monk generated 54 points off 32 shots from the field. That’s efficiency, and you sure haven’t heard that word often used to describe Monk as a Hornet.
“For sure,” Monk said, when asked if he’s found his niche.
“Every game is getting better and better, too. Hopefully, I’ll keep growing up from there. I’ve been working hard for these two, three years. I’ve been waiting for my moment.”
That has required some reinvention. Monk had a slow start this season, and said three games in that he was being passive. That meant in part he’d become too reliant on spot-up 3-pointers. Of late, he’s attacked the basket far more and been rewarded. After taking no free throws in his first six games, he has taken 15 trips to the foul line in his last six.
“Sometimes, you get into an identity that restricts you from what you have in the toolbox,” Borrego described. “He is a very talented young man. For whatever reason, it’s starting to shine more and more right now.”
Diverse offense
It’s the best time for Monk to blossom because this Hornets team must evolve from the way it revolved around Kemba Walker. The All-NBA point guard, now with the Boston Celtics, played a key role in a good 80 percent of Charlotte’s offense the past several seasons.
No one player will replace Walker. But collectively, guards Graham, Terry Rozier and Monk can form a new profile, a more diverse offense, and Friday felt like the template.
Graham finished with 18 points and 10 assists. Rozier scored 19. Monk came off the bench for 19 points and four rebounds.
“Our goal is to play with multiple ball-handlers, multiple play-makers,” Borrego said. “It didn’t matter who had the ball, we had three decision-makers who could put pressure on the rim, shoot the 3-ball and make plays for others.
“That’s tough to guard anytime you put that type of pressure on the defense.”
Getting stops
Borrego talked up the defense Friday, and rightly so: The Pistons scored just 41 points in the second half, committing 12 turnovers. That allowed the Hornets to overcome a deficit of as much as 14 points.
But it’s hard not to be intrigued by a team that had six players score 10 or more points and scored 58 points in the paint against an opponent of the Pistons’ size.
“Our main thing is drive-kick-swing,” Graham said of the offense.
Everybody drove, everybody kicked, everybody swung the ball. Then, Monk finished it off by finally being all he was billed to be.
