Forget the All-Star snubs. Correcting a massive problem is the Hornets’ real priority
.JPG "Charlotte Hornets center Mason Plumlee, right, guards Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)")
A full day hadn’t quite passed following the initial disappointment, and the sting still felt kind of fresh and slightly bothersome.
Despite boasting two of the top up-and-coming young players in the Eastern Conference that have assisted in springboarding the Charlotte Hornets to one of their best seasons in two decades, LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges didn’t see their names pop up on the screen once all the envelopes were peeled open and the contents revealing the All-Star reserves were read aloud on national television. No one likes to be snubbed, and if either perceives they were deserving, it could be used as a motivator over the coming weeks.
“Absolutely,” coach James Borrego said. “I think any great player I’ve seen in this league, there’s fuel in some degree, some level. They found some fuel somewhere. This is great fuel for those young men, but I’m proud of them because they’re in the conversation. They’re in the mix, they’re in the arena. They’re right there. They’re knocking on the doorstep. Just like we are as a team as they are as individuals.
“So they have years to continue to fight for those All-Star teams, but more than anything they’re focused on this team and winning games. But absolutely this is going to be fuel for both of those young men. Not only to come back stronger next year, but to right now respond. Right now.”
Kind of like the big man who tortured the Hornets in their numbing 102-101 loss to Cleveland at Spectrum Center on Friday night. Jarrett Allen might have felt jilted himself and perplexed he didn’t receive a nod to the All-Star festivities that will take place in his own arena.
This important four-game homestand, which continues Saturday when they entertain High Point, N.C. product Bam Adebayo and the Miami Heat, was supposed to give the Hornets a massive canvas to paint a better picture of things to come. Instead, consider it the latest reminder of the issues they have on the interior, a dilemma that likely is only going to get worse as they play superior teams featuring players who made the cut as All-Stars.
Lost somewhat in the wild ending and overshadowed slightly by the spectacle in the fourth quarter that included Terry Rozier’s 3-point shot counting when it should not have, the Cavaliers continuously exposed the Hornets’ interior problem. Allen had a career night with 29 points and 22 rebounds — 11 offensive — and that marked just the third outing with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds in his five seasons. Mason Plumlee and everyone else on the inside were no match.
Allen’s carving up of the Hornets’ further underscored their deep need for an answer before the clock strikes at the trade deadline next Thursday. He feasted on the Hornets as usual, nearly posting a double-double in the first quarter. Cleveland made sure to get the 6-11, 248-pounder involved from its opening possession, running a pick-and-roll for an easy right-handed flush to flawless perfection. It went downhill from there for the Hornets, who’ve been toasted by Allen for a while now. They’re probably seeing visions of the 26.5-point, 19-rebound average — propelled by a roughly 64 percent showing from the field — Allen has recorded in Uptown this season.
“There’s something about Charlotte that I’ve always liked playing here ever since I was a rookie,” Allen said. “I don’t know if it’s the city, if it’s just the arena. It’s just something about Charlotte that I actually like.”
Luckily for the Hornets, this is the Cavaliers’ last scheduled visit of the season. Now for the bad news: They meet Allen & Co. again in Cleveland in a little over three weeks. By then, the Hornets will have wrapped up this potentially defining stretch they are entangled in, playing six games in nine days. With the exception of their Feb. 11 matchup in Detroit, every one of those games comes against a team in the top seven in their respective conference.
Aside from their tilt against Miami, they also have dates with Toronto, Chicago and Memphis on the immediate horizon. Each possesses a troublesome center that will be sure to give the Hornets fits.
“It’s going to be a constant battle out there at that position,” Borrego said. “... Obviously, same thing (Saturday night). We’ve got some big guys coming in here and it doesn’t get much easier.
Unless it’s quickly corrected, there are going to be a lot of centers and power forwards salivating. Having the 25th-ranked defense makes it difficult enough for the Hornets to contain their opponent. Constantly putting up very little resistance, particularly when larger centers navigate into the paint, certainly doesn’t help matters.
“It takes a team to stop some of these bigs,” Gordon Hayward said. “ … It takes all five of us. It’s not on anyone, especially when we are playing small out there. We’ve just got to try to battle them. Make everything tough. Don’t let them get dunks and stuff.”
Those are the kinds of plays that lead to a demoralizing vibe. Once the emotionally-charged throwdowns rack up, the opposition’s confidence grows while the Hornets’ appears to wane. Collectively, they have to find some solution or their promising season will continue slipping away.
“S—, it’s just really game plan discipline,” Kelly Oubre said. “Guys are going to come out and do what they do. We all play basketball every day. Some guys are going to have good nights. But we have to make it harder for these opponents to come in here and know that they are not getting anything easy.
“We have to create pretty much a culture here at home that states that we are not going for nothing here. Nothing is going to be easy or given to you. You are going to earn each and every thing that you get when you come here. So we are still working on it.”
This story was originally published February 5, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
