Cody Martin caps Hornets’ crazy finish. Takeaways from Charlotte’s win over Kings
.JPG "Charlotte Hornets forward Cody Martin (11) is defended by Sacramento Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)")
Gordon Hayward dapped up James Bouknight and hung back for another split second, gathering himself prior to sprinting through the club lounge area and onto the Spectrum Center court for the pregame warmups.
The line of players in front of Hayward was scarce by NBA standards, a direct result of the Charlotte Hornets missing seven key players — two of which were added to the injury report earlier with non-COVID illnesses. Besides Hayward, the Hornets had just nine others in uniform thanks to the absences of PJ Washington and Nick Richards.
“Yeah I don’t think I’ve experienced that,” coach James Borrego said. “That’s not ideal. I don’t think I’ve ever missed seven guys at a time on a team. I’ve never seen that before. I’ve not experienced that. But it’s OK. We move forward.”
Full speed ahead, too. Although they hit a speed bump that nearly derailed things.
Undermanned again and holding a fourth-quarter lead for the fourth straight game, the Hornets found a way to close it out. Barely. Cody Martin hit one of two free throws with 5.5 seconds left, then inexplicably fouled Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox on the ensuing possession as he was bringing the ball up in the backcourt. But Fox missed both free throws, giving the Hornets a wild 124-123 win over the Kings on Friday night.
Martin had a bucket with 5.5 seconds remaining that was initially ruled good in a continuation after he was fouled by Terence Davis. Kings interim coach Alvin Gentry, a Shelby native, challenged the call and the basket got waived off. Borrego said the officials told him Martin’s foot came down prior to him putting up the shot. In reviewing the play, it was determined Martin was indeed hacked.
That led to Martin’s numbing sequence and Fox’s subsequent misfires, allowing the Hornets (15-13) to halt their two-game losing streak.
“I thought it was good,” Martin said of his layup that got wiped away “At the end of the day, I don’t make the calls. It’s just about moving forward to the next play. I got to make both free throws. Went in and out. It is what it is, we move on to the next play. Got a little bit too aggressive. Wasn’t a smart play, bad timing.
“But I just think that it just ended up working in our favor. He missed two free throws that I’m sure he doesn’t normally miss. I don’t know, I think the basketball gods were in our favor. We were grinding it the last few games and had situations where we could’ve won. We just keep going and keep going and trying to figure out ways to win and I think that we’re getting better.”
Yet another crazy night in a wacky week the Hornets likely will never forget.
“Probably the proudest of a team I have been in my four years here,” Borrego said. “Just the resiliency of this team, to never give in, the fight, the perseverance and just the buy-in of this group is just, I love this group. They never give up. We had seven of our top 10 rotation players out and those guys in that locker room deserve all the credit. They battled until the last second and they deserve all the credit.”
Here are some of the main takeaways from the Hornets’ victory:
THE GOOD BOUK
Any questions about whether James Bouknight had any more left in him were answered quickly.
Bouknight was unconscious, firing in shots from just about everywhere. He drained 6 of 8 attempts beyond the 3-point arc and already gained Borrego’s trust enough to be in the game during the fourth quarter and crunch time.
Bouknight’s 24 points were not just a career best, they were tops for the Hornets period. He played within himself and didn’t force anything, looking nothing like somebody logging action in his 11th pro game.
“I think the feeling is kind of surreal,” Bouknight said. “But I knew I was capable of this and I knew my coaches believed in me and knew I was capable. This is really just a testament to our chemistry as a team. Having vets and older guys that are going to stay in my ear and tell me to stay ready. Miles Bridges has been telling me all year, ‘Your time is going to come’ and today, it came.”
TAKE TWO
Nobody with enough qualifying attempts has fared better than Cody Martin behind the 3-point line percentage-wise through seven weeks. Martin entered shooting 50.1 percent beyond the arc and was uncharacteristically cool from that range against the Kings, going 1 for 4. He missed his first three until he nailed a huge one to put the Hornets ahead by two with 34.2 seconds remaining.
However, Martin had the touch from 2-point range, and pumped in a career-best 19 points, canning 6 of 8 shots and effectively served as the Hornets’ point guard for the third straight game, even registering a career-high tying three blocks.
“He impacts winning at a high level,” Borrego said. “He has winning DNA oozing out of his pores and that is true. He just makes winning plays, big shots, cuts, rebounds, defensive stops. He’s a winner, plain and simple. He belongs here and he is a major part of what we are trying to do here with this group.”
A KAI JONES SIGHTING
With the lack of available bodies, one would’ve thought Kai Jones would be a possible option and could get his first true meaningful minutes of the season.
It didn’t happen until the start of the fourth quarter.
That’s when Jones finally made it off the bench, leaving Scottie Lewis as the only Hornet to not get in on the action. Jones missed his first attempt — a short turnaround in the lane — but had a nice tip close to midway through the fourth quarter.
“He’s a young stallion out there trying to figure it out,” Borrego said. “But he did two things: he ran the floor extremely well and he was able to switch and stay in front of them. That was our only way to contain them there in the second half, was our ability to stay in front of them. So we switched a lot of our coverages in the second half and he was a big part of that.
“And there were a couple of plays at the rim he impacted. So he had that rim protection, that vertical threat for us on the other end with the ability to run the floor, too. He was all over the glass. He was trying to get every tip in. The good Lord shined on that one and he tipped it in.”
VERNON GETS NO. 5
All the missing guys on the front line meant the Hornets had to start someone else at center and that distinction went to Vernon Carey Jr. The second-year center hadn’t been in the starting lineup since April 22 against Chicago and he didn’t play passively.
Carey, making his fifth career start, powered in 3 of his first 5 shots and had seven points and a pair of rebounds by halftime.
ARNIE DEBUTS
Fans might’ve needed a program to figure out who No. 98 was for the Hornets.
Arnoldas Kulboka was summoned off the bench by Borrego and received his first career minutes. The rookie from Lithuania got inserted at the outset of the second quarter to give some of the starting unit wing players a break, but didn’t score in his three-minute stint.
Kulboka is raw, and that’s why he’s spent most of his time this season playing in the G League with Greensboro. His ability to shoot from long range is something the Hornets like a lot, but he still has to get acclimated to the speed and physicality of the league compared to Europe.
This story was originally published December 10, 2021 at 9:47 PM.
