Finally, Charlotte Hornets get their act together on the boards

Al Jefferson said Tuesday this rebounding mess could get fixed in one day.

Turns out he was precisely right.

You would not have predicted this was the night the Charlotte Hornets would finally get their act together on the boards. The Brooklyn Nets are top-10 in the NBA in defensive rebounding percentage, offensive rebounding percentage and total rebounding percentage.

The Hornets were coming off a game in which the New York Knicks had scored 20 second-chance points Tuesday. They had gone about a week practicing some of the worst rebounding fundamentals in coach Steve Clifford’s two-plus season tenure in Charlotte.

So what do you know? The Hornets held the Nets without a single offensive rebound in the first half and finished this 116-111 home victory with a 12-rebound advantage (49-37).

[Box score: Nets versus Hornets]

The Hornets did a lot of nice work offensively Wednesday. They made 11 3-pointers (at a 44 percent make clip). They made a season-high 27 free throws (though they also missed nine attempts). They had seven players score in double figures.

But the real feat Wednesday had nothing to do with the scoring explosion. It was holding the Nets to a total of nine second-chance points.

The previous two seasons the Hornets were excellent on the boards. Clifford had a group then that wasn’t nearly as talented as this one, but more compliant. When he told them they’d have no chance to win without being low-turnover, low-foul and vigilant about ending defensive possessions with rebounds, they bought in.

Most of the Hornets’ off-season moves were to bring in scorers. And then Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, one of the best-rebounding small forwards in the NBA, suffered a shoulder injury that will likely cost him the entire season.

As Clifford acknowledged after the Nets game, most of his players just aren’t naturally rebounders. There’s center Jefferson, who has always been strong on the defensive boards. There is forward Marvin Williams, who began the season regularly reaching 10 rebounds. And then? Not much.

Wednesday they got sick of talking about rebounds, and instead grabbed some. The point guards became part of the solution, with Jeremy Lin grabbing nine and Kemba Walker adding seven.

This was one of those it-takes-a-village things.

"We made an effort to help the bigs on the glass and the ball was just bouncing my way," Lin said. "We did a good job all the way through of just blocking out. When you see guards with a lot of rebounds, it’s not because we’re these amazing rebounders. It’s the bigs doing their job of blocking out so we can chase loose balls down."

That sounds simple because it is simple. Rebounding isn’t about nuance, it’s about being rugged and consistent enough to get between the other team and the ball as it comes off the rim.

Are the Hornets going to play like they did against the Nets every night? Of course not. Are they going to play like they did against the Knicks? Hopefully not.

The Hornets might never be a great rebounding squad this season. With all the offensive firepower, they don’t necessarily have to be. But if they fall back into the habit of allowing 20 second-chance points, they sure won’t be making a playoff appearance.

So learn from Wednesday, view it as a template for success, and they’ll get by.

This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 10:46 PM with the headline "Finally, Charlotte Hornets get their act together on the boards."