On glass, Charlotte Hornets ‘have to get edge back’
The Charlotte Hornets lost on “want to” Tuesday night.
They have to want to rebound more than their opponent and that hasn’t happened very often recently.
The statistic that defined their 102-94 loss to the New York Knicks was the Knicks’ 20 second-chance points. Those are points resulting from a possession being kept alive via an offensive rebound. The Knicks finished this game with 21 offensive rebounds, compared to eight for the Hornets.
[Box score: Hornets versus Knicks]
This has become a troubling trend. Whatever was flawed about the previous two Charlotte NBA teams, those players took pride in their defensive rebounding. These Hornets entered Tuesday night’s game ranked 13th among 30 NBA franchises in defensive rebounding.
No. 13 doesn’t sound that bad, but it’s actually misleading. The Hornets had a great start rebounding the ball in their first handful of games and there has been slippage ever since.
“We showed early we could do it. We have to get back to a commitment as a group to make that a point of emphasis,” said backup center Spencer Hawes. “I think we got suckered in a little bit, getting some easy ones in transition because (the opposing team) wasn’t getting back. At the same time if they get three (scores) off the glass, it doesn’t make any difference.”
Hornets coach Steve Clifford said this won’t change until the entire group takes ownership of the problem. It’s not just the big men’s responsibility to rebound, it’s also the guards and small forwards who must contribute.
Rebounding, Clifford said, isn’t about talent or all that much about technique. It’s effort and determination. For all the talk about the problem, there hasn’t been much action. It’s impossible to be an elite defensive team if you don’t finish the job with a rebound.
“We have to do it,” said point guard Kemba Walker, who scored a season-high 31 points. “I don’t know what else to say about that; just do it.”
This is particularly frustrating to center Al Jefferson, who has been this team’s most consistent defensive rebounder in his two-plus seasons in Charlotte. Jefferson finished Tuesday with five rebounds in 26 minutes.
“We’ve just got to commit to it, man – it’s a team-rebounding thing,” Jefferson said. “It has to start with the bigs, but it’s something that could be fixed right now. You can say the ball was bouncing their way, but we have been a great defensive rebounding team since I’ve been here and we’ve got to get that edge back.”
It didn’t help that forward Marvin Williams, who rebounded so well at the season’s outset, was ejected from the game with just less than eight minutes remaining and the Hornets trailing by seven. On the play before Williams had been elbowed by the Knicks’ Lou Amundson, which did not draw a foul.
Williams retaliated with a hard foul at the other end on Amundson. Williams acknowledges a flagrant foul might have been justified. But the flagrant 2 designation – which is an automatic ejection – was excessive, Williams believes.
“As far as the flagrant 2, I looked at it three times and I don’t think I did anything to get ejected,” Williams told the Observer post-game. “Was it a hard foul? Absolutely. Was it probably a flagrant 1? Absolutely. But I don’t think I did anything to get ejected.
“I was trying to make a play on the ball….My track record should speak for itself; I’ve played 700 (NBA) games and been ejected twice. I don’t think by any means it was a two.”
This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 11:28 PM with the headline "On glass, Charlotte Hornets ‘have to get edge back’."