Charlotte Hornets got ‘punked,’ and the road to NBA playoffs just became steeper
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Detroit beat Charlotte 118-100, exposing Hornets' weaknesses late in the season.
- Charlotte had five field goals and committed seven turnovers in the fourth quarter.
- Hornets now must win two consecutive play-in games to reach the NBA playoffs.
The Charlotte Hornets received an unfortunate reminder Friday night in their last home game of the regular season.
They saw what an elite team looks like as it heads to the NBA playoffs, and what such a team can do to you if you allow it. Detroit, with nothing to play for given it had already clinched the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed, nevertheless blew out a Hornets team with a whole lot to play for, 118-100.
Detroit scored 62 points in the paint and pushed the Hornets around like they were on roller skates. Or, as Hornets veteran Grant Williams said, the Pistons “punked us.”
Charlotte played one of its worst quarters of the season at just the wrong time — the fourth quarter in what was a very significant game. Charlotte went 5 for 19 (0 for 9 on 3-pointers), scored only two points in the fourth quarter’s first six minutes and ended up getting outscored, 25-10.
It was nasty, and it had the effect of narrowing Charlotte’s play-in options considerably.
Now, no matter what happens Sunday night as the regular season concludes, the Hornets must win two play-in games in a row next week to make the playoffs and break the NBA’s longest non-playoff streak (Charlotte hasn’t made the real playoffs since 2016).
With this loss and Friday’s other results, the Hornets are assured of being seeded either No. 9 or No. 10 in the East. A Charlotte win Sunday at the New York Knicks —who are locked into the East’s No. 3 seed regardless of Sunday’s outcome — would mean the Hornets play their first play-in game at home against Miami.
A loss Sunday, coupled with a Heat win, means Charlotte would still face Miami, but on the road.
Regardless, a win over the Heat on Wednesday in the 9-10 game would mean Charlotte earns a second play-in game Friday, on the road, to try to win its way into the No. 8 seed. Win that game, and here comes a best-of-7 series against — you guessed it — Detroit.
But first, the Hornets have to win twice in a row next week in the play-in tournament, or there will be no playoffs. That’s what it comes down to.
Hornets coach Charles Lee bemoaned the way Charlotte didn’t match Detroit’s physicality. “They have 62 points in the paint,” Lee said. “They got 16 offensive rebounds. You just feel like you left a lot of money on the table.”
For three quarters, Charlotte was very competitive, trailing just 93-90 in an entertaining game as the fourth quarter began. And then the Hornets bricked their way to oblivion, with more turnovers (seven) than field goals (five). A disappointed sellout crowd of 19,623 at the Spectrum Center started filing out with five minutes left as both teams cleared their benches.
“Tonight is definitely a learning experience,” Charlotte’s Brandon Miller said later.
Said Williams: “A night like this can really put things in perspective. … I thought that we could have upped our physicality. … Rather than us rallying together and understanding that 10 points is nothing in the NBA, I think we went the opposite way. I think the group just didn’t necessarily commit to understanding that.”
Now 43-38, Charlotte has lost ground this week with difficult losses to Boston and Detroit that followed the same blueprint, as the Hornets fell off a cliff in the fourth quarter at the wrong time.
The Pistons could have made all this easier for Charlotte, of course. They could have benched all their starters and their seeding wouldn’t have suffered one bit. But that’s not what Detroit did, and that was the Pistons’ prerogative.
The game started out chippy — not surprising, given these two teams engaged in a fairly massive fight earlier in the season that resulted in multiple suspensions. Less than two minutes into the game, Miller and Detroit’s Duncan Robinson exchanged shoves after Miller came down following an alley-oop and partially landed on Robinson.
The players were called for a double technical (Miller said “next question” when asked about the incident after the game).
“I don’t think it was anything hostile,” Williams said. “I think they were just heat of the moment.”
There were no more real flare-ups — just Detroit (59-22) dominating the Hornets like a big brother dominating a little brother in a game of one-on-one.
“It got tough, it got physical, and we didn’t do a good enough job executing,” Lee said. “For three quarters, it was good. But when you’re playing top-notch teams at this time of year, you’ve got to play more than three quarters.”
