Terry Rozier has a challenge for Hornets fans before the most important games in years
.JPG "Charolette Hornets guard Terry Rozier (3) looks for an opening past Oklahom City Thunder guard Tre Mann (23) in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, March 14, 2022, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Kyle Phillips)")
With the calendar still stuck in his birth month and the day he turns 28 merely a full-court pass away, Terry Rozier has that usual gleam in his eye.
After all, he is a Pisces and that Zodiac sign is associated with creativity.
“Not to be cocky,” the Charlotte Hornets guard said Monday night. “I feel like every year in March — I don’t know, maybe it’s the birthday, I don’t know why I’ll be feeling good — but I kind of take off. Just hopefully I can stay healthy and keep applying pressure. But all the credit goes to my coaches and teammates.”
Rozier is on a serious roll, tossing in at least 30 points in three of his last five games, the latest coming in the Hornets’ 134-116 win over Oklahoma City at Paycom Center. His effort assured a sweep of their mini two-game road trip, allowing them to collectively pause and take a deep breath following a pair of rough losses.
But in order to avoid a shot to the solar plexus and quickly lose any of that air, it’s imperative for the Hornets (34-35) to handle the task sitting directly in front of them with 13 games remaining. They begin a critical five-game homestand on Wednesday — their longest of the season — that will have a huge bearing on their playoff fate.
It begins with a date against ninth-place Atlanta, the team that’s a half-game ahead of the 10th-place Hornets in the Eastern Conference standings. The Hawks also lead the season series 2-1. For those wondering, the next tiebreaker in determining seeding is division record, and Atlanta (8-5) has the edge over the Hornets (5-7) there.
Sum it up and that means the Hornets would have to win their three remaining division games against Miami, Orlando and Washington just to have a legit shot at overtaking Atlanta unless the Hawks collapse over the season’s final weeks.
That’s why their upcoming 10-day stint at Spectrum Center holds such significance.
“This is going to be the biggest homestand of the year,” Miles Bridges said. “This is our last homestand. We’ve got all good teams coming in. So we want to come in focused, especially starting off with that Atlanta game. We need that game. We are tied with them (in the win column). We know what’s at stake. So we want to come in focused and ready to go. We can’t get out to the slow start that we got out to today with them. We’ve got to come in focused.”
At least the Hornets have their top three scorers in a groove again, giving them the potential firepower to cut through a tenuous schedule. Besides Rozier, Bridges and LaMelo Ball looked pretty good in their recent victories. Factor in the boost Isaiah Thomas is providing, doing things like sparking them with a 12-point second quarter against the Thunder, to go with the Hornets averaging 138 points in their last two wins, and the vibe has swung in a different direction.
The burning question is can they keep it going without stumbling? Because it’s a rough path to the postseason pasture.
Nine of the Hornets’ remaining games are against teams in playoff position. Two more take place with teams they’ve already lost to this season — Orlando and Washington — and the others are against the New York Knicks.
But the Hornets boast more home games (eight) than road ones (five). Although they have struggled at home recently, losing 10 of their last 12 following that solid 14-7 start, there are no excuses.
“Great opportunity to get back in front of our fans,” coach James Borrego said. “Now we’ve got to take advantage and make the most of it. No team is going to walk in our arena and just hand us wins. We’ve got to go take it.”
If they don’t, the odds of them hosting at least one play-in tournament game dramatically decreases and their chances of missing out on the postseason party altogether substantially increase. They’re on the clock and they know it.
“We’ve got to do our job,” Rozier said. “I just want to challenge the fans: If you’ve got any love for the Charlotte Hornets, just come out and support us. We are going to need everybody. We are going to need the whole city. But every game is important, man. Five-game stretch. We need everybody. We need our sixth man, which is our fans.”
This story was originally published March 15, 2022 at 8:21 AM.
