National television in a playoff race; tonight Charlotte Hornets are in prime time
NBA games with major stakes on national television: Few Charlotte Hornets have experienced that, and you don’t learn how to cope just by watching.
“It’s something you need to experience. It’s a different game for sure,” veteran forward Gordon Hayward said of Charlotte’s playoff prospects.
Tonight is a dress rehearsal of sorts for the rest of the season. The Hornets play the Eastern Conference-leading Brooklyn Nets in a game nationally televised on TNT. The 24-22 Hornets are fourth in the East standings with a shot at breaking a four-season streak of no playoff appearances.
No one among the Hornets believe they have arrived, particularly when only two games separate fourth from eighth in the standings. However, tonight’s national TV appearance demonstrates the Hornets have the league’s attention and some traction.
They need these experiences. Only one player on the current roster — center Cody Zeller — was with Charlotte for the last playoff appearance in the spring of 2016. Four of the top six Hornets in minutes this season — P.J. Washington, Miles Bridges, LaMelo Ball and Devonte Graham — have no playoff appearances.
Experiencing the postseason is an essential element of this team’s development.
“The intensity is so ratcheted up in the playoffs,” Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak told The Observer on Thursday.
“A seven-game (playoff) series is a great experience for a young team. You can win one, lose two, win (games) 3 and 4. Then, the other coaches make an adjustment and you’re on your heals.
“I’m not going to say it’s (an entirely) different game, but that would be a good experience.”
A team’s maturation
Kupchak said the Hornets didn’t enter this season with the specific mission of reaching the playoffs. They’re a long way still from qualifying, and if they finish seventh through 10th in the East, they’d have to go through a play-in to reach a best-of-seven series.
But creating a fresh mindset — that playing meaningful games at the end of each regular season should be the norm — is what coach James Borrego aspires to, after a decade as a San Antonio Spurs assistant.
“The mentality of, ‘This is what we are now. This is our standard of where we belong every single (season), not just once in a while,’ ” said Borrego, in his third season as Charlotte’s head coach.
It took Kemba Walker, the Hornets’ career scoring leader, three seasons before he made a playoff appearance. As much as Walker had heard about the playoffs, he was taken aback that first postseason in the spring of 2014 by the shift in intensity.
Borrego says that’s a typical reaction — a little shock and a lot of learning on the fly for young players.
“You can’t replicate what happens in a playoff series. There’s not much you can do to show your guys the level, the atmosphere, the competition, the strategy that goes into a playoff series,” Borrego said. “You just have to experience it. The goal is to get there.”
The current Hornets with the most playoff experience are Terry Rozier (50 games with the Boston Celtics) and Hayward (29 games with the Celtics and Utah Jazz). Hayward said that while you can’t just transfer playoff experience to young teammates, there are things he can say to help prepare them.
The key words: habits and meticulousness.
“When you’re playing in a seven-game series, all those little details matter even more,” Hayward said. “The other team is scouting you (more intensely), they know what you want to do. They’re trying to take it away. You really have to be hyper-focused.
“I can talk to players about that stuff. Showing, through example, how to be professional with that stuff.”
Hornets are relevant; can they maintain that?
Borrego knows his team is still a long way from the verge of the playoffs. But he wants his players to embrace games like tonight as growth experiences.
“We want to play meaningful basketball in April,” Borrego said. “That our guys are playing meaningful games down the stretch, and we push into something deeper.
“Our guys are starting to feel like they belong — that we’re here and we aren’t going anywhere. That’s the most important thing.”
