Hornets don’t get lucky with NBA seeding, will go to Atlanta for play-in tournament
Many smartphones needed an extra charge due to constant refreshing Sunday.
The Charlotte Hornets’ afternoon tilt against Washington coincided with the three other games that had a significant bearing on their playoff fate. Provided they won, which was expected considering the Wizards sat most of its regulars and had nothing to play for other than adding ping-pong balls to the draft lottery hopper, the possibility of hosting a home play-in tournament game remained intact.
Although it took longer than they would have preferred to put the Wizards away in a 124-108 victory at Spectrum Center, the Hornets did their part. The problem was none of the other simultaneous results were favorable and wins by all three teams ahead of them in the Eastern Conference standings kept the Hornets from climbing above 10th place.
If the Hornets are going to host at least one more game this season at the corner of Caldwell and Trade streets, they must win two games on the road in three days to secure a spot in the true eight-team postseason field. Their play-in tournament journey begins Wednesday when they square off against ninth-seeded Atlanta at 7 p.m. at State Farm Arena.
The winner of that game advances to face the loser of Tuesday’s game between No. 7 Brooklyn and No. 8 Cleveland on Friday for the right to claim the eighth seed and play Miami in the first round in South Florida beginning on Sunday.
To get that far, the Hornets (43-39) must follow the same script that propelled them to the most victories they’ve had since 2015-16. En route to earning just their fourth finish above .500 since pro basketball returned to the city in 2004-05, they’ve boasted one of the best offensive attacks all season and needed a big second half to put the Wizards away.
“It was good for us,” Miles Bridges said. “We were kind of messing with the game today, got to the fourth quarter and guys were like, ‘Look, we are trying to make the playoffs. So we’ve got to finish this game off right so we can have a chance to at least have seventh eighth or ninth.’ Even though they all won, we won and that’s all that matters to me.”
Led by LaMelo Ball, who fell one assist shy of posting a triple-double against Washington, and featuring a versatile roster with several interchangeable pieces, offense been key in their success. Their firepower was a catalyst in them winning 15 of 23 games following the All-Star break, including three straight and 11 of 14 to cap off the regular season.
“It’s always good to win,” Ball said. “It’s going to be in the back of people’s heads just going into that next game. I feel like it’s just an extra boost. Everybody is all happy and stuff. You don’t want to come in with an ‘L.’”
“I feel like every game now counts and just taking that win and taking it into the play-in, it’s all going to help.”
In a sense, the Hornets are right where they were almost a year ago. They are the lowest-seeded team in the East again and head into the tournament minus their top-paid player following the announcement of Gordon Hayward officially going back on the shelf because he’s experiencing continued discomfort in his left foot and is done for the season unless the Hornets go on an unexpectedly long postseason run.
The only main difference is they didn’t stumble down the stretch as badly as they did in 2021.
“I’m not going to go back and talk about last year,” coach James Borrego said. “I just know we are playing our best basketball of the season. We just won 11 out of 16 and I’d say I’ll take that any day going into the postseason. This is how you want to enter postseason play, with momentum having won three in a row now. There’s an identity here. Our depth is there, our health is there.
“We are going to be fresh. We stumbled down the stretch last year. Obviously right now we are going to be fresh. Minutes were low and we’ve got two more days to freshen up and be ready to go on Wednesday night.”
This story was originally published April 10, 2022 at 6:01 PM.
