February 8, 2025 • 31 mins
The Hornets closed out their historic nine-game homestand by snapping a six-game losing streak, defeating San Antonio 117-116. Sam Farber and Rob Longo break down the waning moments of the game where Miles Bridges hit a go-ahead triple with less than two seconds on the clock, and the two also pick their stars of the contest. Sam and Rob also preview Charlotte's next game at Detroit.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Hornets Hovecast, presented by Charlotte I ear
nosen Throat Associates, the official I ear nosen Throatcare provider
of the Charlotte Hornets. Here's your host, Sam Farber.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to another edition of the Hornets Podcast, Your Hornets
Podcast with all the notes, quote, san daily buzz around
your favorite NBA team. I'm Sam Farber and it is
a pleasure and a privileged heavy with us here once
again on the Hornet'sive Cast, brought to you by Sena
Charlotte I ear Nose and Throat Associates, the official I
ear nosen Throacare provider of your Charlotte Hornets. What a
win it was last night at the Hive, Hornets taking
(00:37):
down the San Antonio Spurs one seventeen to one sixteen,
a game winner in the closing seconds from Miles Bridges.
The team hangs on despite the ball going through the
cylinder at the end from the Aaron Fox. He let
it go after the buzzer and so the Hornets grab
a win in the return of LaMelo ball. So much
to break down in this one. Also because it's a
(00:57):
weekend and you know the Super Bowl is happening on Sunday.
We decided to give Rob Longo a break and so
we will have our game preview for Hornets versus Pistons
at the end of this podcast. Lots of sound, lots
of players and personnel to hear from. From this game winner,
We're going to jump right into it with my producer
on the Hornets Reno Network, as well as the producer
of this fine podcast, someone who is very much looking
(01:18):
forward to working on Super Bowl Sunday, Rob Longo. Rob,
what a win. What a way to wrap up a
record long nine game homestand that was filled with so
much frustration with injuries and uncertainty around the trade deadline
ends up being a tremendous trade deadline from the Hornets
perspective in terms of acquiring additional draft capital and preserving
(01:40):
your top three scores LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Miles
Bridges on the roster. But we'll save that for another
podcast because this game deserves all the attention. Charlotte winning
for the thirteenth time this season, second time on the
home stand on the back of a game winner from
Miles Bridges one to seventeen to one to sixteen. The
final score over Victor wen Binyama in the San Antonio.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Spurs, and for the most part it was I don't
want to call it a dominating win, but it was
one that the Hornets were in control for the most part.
San Antonio scored the first bucket of the game. The
Hornets led it almost the entirety of the contest until
the fourth quarter. And you got to give credit where
credits due. Stefon Castle career high thirty three points. That
was a heck of a performance by him. He was
the first Spur to have thirty or more points off
(02:21):
the bench since nineteen eighty seven.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
So Mino Genobili came off the bench.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I mean, like, yeah, isn't that impressive. So, I mean,
all things considered, it was a great job there by
san Antonio to claw back ended this one. San Antonio
got its first lead since that to nothing advantage with
about seven point nine seconds left to go in the
contest there. So I started doing the math a little
bit before we get to the big crescendo here at
the end. But I was looking at it and I
(02:46):
was like, well, if this score holds, then san Antonio
would have led for an entirety of had it written
down twenty six seconds in the game, so you know
they scored a first bucket I think seventeen seconds into
the contest. You had seven point nine one o'clock there. Albeit,
they had that lead a little bit at the end
of the game, but it did not last for very long.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
That means the Hornets would have led for forty seven
and a half minutes of a game and potentially lost,
but the heroics were there. Seconds left in the contest,
Hornets are down two after Dearon Fox knocks down an
elbow jumper to make it one sixteen, one point fourteen
in favor of the Spurs. Charlotte draws up a play.
They finally have LaMelo ball back again after a five
(03:27):
game absence, and he was so good on all of
these exact kinds of plays in closing seconds for really
the first month or two of the season. Then injuries
started to set in and the team just wasn't in
as many of these scenarios. But they get into one
on the final game of this homestand seven point two
seconds remaining Seth Curry inbounding. Here's how the play sounded.
(03:51):
The inbound to LaMelo one on one was so high
bill drive, goes up, kicks out Bridges corner creek for
the win. Yes, a just absolutely perfectly executed play. I'm
not gonna try and you know, overdo things here because
I want to let Coach Charles Lee explain what he
(04:12):
was looking for, what he saw in the play he
drew up, and then we'll react afterwards. But here's Hornet,
said Coach Charles Lee on that game winning play. In
the execution by LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges and everyone involved.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
You're looking for Miles on the back pick first, and
then it's Mellow's job to get open and then be
able to drive, and Miles just did a great job
of finishing his cut. Mello did a great job of
being Mellow and driving the ball and then again just
reading the defense at the rim.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Rob I mean, I don't know if there is a
more perfect execution of a play that you can have
at the end of the game than what LaMelo Ball
and the Hornets were able to do there on that
game winner. LaMelo gets the ball up on the wing.
There's seven some seconds remaining, so you know there's enough
time to do something here. You don't have to catch
(04:59):
and s he measures up Sohan, who's a very good defender,
drives right to the rim, engages a second defender. Miles
Bridges is wide open in the corner. LaMelo ball pinpoint,
perfect pass, and Miles Bridges takes it and makes it
with confidence, the exact kind of shots that we've been saying.
He has just made for catch and shoot, let it rip,
(05:22):
and he's able to sink it with all of the
pressure of that moment on him didn't phase him for
a second. His third three of the game and it's
the game winner. Finishes with twenty five points. Just again,
I don't think you can execute it any better. And
you know me, when I'm looking at these plays and
i'm grading it, I'm not grading it on did they
make it or miss it. It's execution. Did you do
(05:43):
what you were supposed to do. Did you get the
look that you wanted to, did you make the right
reads and reactions and everything everything, Everything about that play
to me was perfect.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
And Miles Bridges is the guy that you want to
take this shot. I know a lot of people would
say LaMelo because he's your superstar, he's your all star.
But if you go back and you think about it
at Miles Bridges has been doing these clutch moments for
the last two seasons. Now if you think about it,
obviously the one last night. I'm sure we'll talk about
Miles a lot here later on in the podcast, but
you go back to the one Miles had last night.
You go back to the end of December, ties the
(06:13):
game at ninety eight against Chicago in a similar situation,
gets a catch and show and had to kind of
navigate around Patrick Williams for Chicago a little bit, but
who's able to make it force overtime? Hornets don't win
that game. But then you go back to last season
as well, had a couple of buzzer beaters at the
beginning of the season he had won against Milwaukee. I
think he had another one in there too. I need
(06:33):
to go back and I need to look up his
clutch time statistics. But when it comes to these waning
moments and he's got an open look, he buries him.
And even if he doesn't have an open look, he
ends up baring him. But again, all the credit in
the world to the Melow ball. On that play, he
is flying downhill attacking the rim. Probably could have got
a shot up. It would have been contested, but just
to have the peace of mind and I know Miles,
(06:55):
we'll hear from Miles here in a moment, but to
realize that Miles is in the corner and a defense
collapse saw him so much. I mean, it was just
a phenomenal pass. It's one of the best passes I've
seen from LaMelo. I know everybody goes back to the
one that he had, like the behind the back kind
of bounce past from midquart a couple of seasons ago
for a dunk opportunity. But this one, man, this was
a pretty one in a very very clutch time moment.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, that that's gonna be on the highlight reel forever
for LaMelo. That was you cannot do it any better.
Miles Bridge knocks down the three in the corner. Here's
what Miles had to say after the game about his
game winning shot.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
Mello passed it to me, man on my run ar test.
But he attracked the whole defense. He hat checked the
whole defense the whole game. And I told him beforehand,
like when you drove to the hoop, I'm be open
in that corner and he passes to me, so I'll
do that.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Now, that's his half of the conversation, Lamello had his
own interpretation about what he was envisioning for the final
play and how the conversation went down with Miles. Here's Lamello,
the man who made the game winning assist after the game, all,
I ain't gonna lie right right before the shot or
before the play. I'm like, I'm gonna take the three,
so go crash. He said, I'm gonna be in a corner,
(08:04):
so just whatever whatever their In the end, he makes
the perfect read. Whatever the plan was, and it sounded
like from Charles Lee, the original plan was, you know
one of these inbounds plays where you throw a fade
pass basically to Miles Bridges to open up and let
him go to work. That wasn't open. LaMelo gets it
and makes the appropriate decision, blows by Sohn e Gauges,
(08:26):
the second defender throws to the corner, Miles Bridges wide open,
and then you live with the results. But again, as
you said, there are a few players on this team
you would rather take that shot in that moment than
Miles Bridges. And all that being said, Rob it almost
didn't matter because there was still one point one seconds
left on the clock and the Spurs had a time out.
(08:46):
They advanced the ball into the front court. They get
the ball to their newly acquired former All Star de
Aaron Fox. And here's how that sequence sounded. Lucidabade watching
Wendy near the post inbound in Paul to Fox Fox,
but three, it's after the budzho. It's after the budsho.
(09:08):
It's after the buds ho. They're gonna let you it.
There's no way he got that off on time.
Speaker 6 (09:14):
No no, no, I'm gonna clip those last three seconds
and I'm gonna send it to Sam's wife so when
he's on the road and the kids are misbehaving, so
you can just play that recording of no, No.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
No, because that's basically how it goes in the farmhousehold
when one of the kids is misbehaving. I've seen it
with my own two eyes. I love but that was
just a great You're all over it. Eric Collins was
all over and on the TV. I was sitting here
in the studio with Will Polachia getting ready for Hornet's
post game, and I was kind of all over it too.
I'm not gonna criticize the officials because I like my
money and I'm not gonna get fine. But it seemed
(09:48):
like in real time it was pretty evident that that
play was not gonna count because the ball was in
Fox's handstill, and they called it good I think in
the moment, but then they really quickly did the monma.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
First, they kind of huddled on it. They signaled that
it was a three, and then they talked about and
then they said on the floor it is no good
and really it doesn't matter because you're reviewing it. So
whether you I mean, it's not gonna be a tie,
it's going to be one or the other. So you're
going to go look at the monitors. So a slight
delayed there, but it ends up being afterwards phenomenal shot
(10:19):
by the Aaron Fox. Phenomenal. That's why he was brought
there to have those kinds of plays, so that Victor
Wembenyama is covered up. There's another superstar to take superstar
level shots. It just happened to be a touch late.
Nick Smith Junior the defensive play, by the way, another
great game for Nick Smith Junior, finishing with nineteen points.
(10:39):
Here's what he had to say about that final sequence. Hey,
that was a touch shot.
Speaker 7 (10:44):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I thought he made it.
Speaker 8 (10:45):
I was go just be so mad a lot, but
I think the time went out. But you know, it
was a good win for us. We came out aggressive,
and you know, we just wanted to stay aggressive. So
you know, our coaches, you know this has been a
big factor for us, just going there and just play
our game and play aggression.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
So that's what we did. Hornets win it one seventeen
to one sixteen, as thrilling a closing ten seconds of
basketball as you're ever gonna find. That's why you go
to NBA games. That's what you're hoping to see, and
it can happen any game you never ever ever know. Sadly,
we are not going to have another home game until March,
but make your plans. See it Spectrum Center March first,
(11:23):
when the Hornets return to the Hive. We gotta pick
Stars of the night. We gotta get you ready for
Hornets versus Pistons on Sunday, when some other game is
also happening that day. We will have our Stars of
the Night coming up next here on the Hornets Time Cast,
Sam farbar Roblongo here with you on the HHC The
Hornet time cast brought to you by cent A. Hornets
(11:43):
win a thriller one to seventeen one sixteen over the
San Antonio Spurs. Miles Bridges the game winner, LaMelo ball
game winning assist. He ends up with a double double.
Couple of players had career highs and assist totals five
finish and double figures. There's a ton a ton of
choice for start of the night, Rob Longo, I think
it's obvious. I think, listen, if you hit a game winner,
(12:07):
you better be the number one start. So don't screw
this up, you know what?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
So no, no, no, no, oh, we're gonna do this again.
I could have just played the record againstead and saved
you three seconds of fresh air. But I mean in
fairness too, I mean Lamello had a hell of a
pass to open up Myles Bridges, so there is a
little bit of competition. But yeah, if you're gonna leave
him open, I'm taking Miles Bridges and bound to Lamello.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
One. I one was so high. Bill Drive goes up,
kicks out Bridges, corner three for the web.
Speaker 7 (12:33):
Yes, so nice.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
We had to hear it twice here on The Hornets
haveive cast and Miles just a phenomenal game. Game high
twenty five points at the end of it, finishes very
efficiently two ten of eighteen, shooting three to six from
three seven rebounds. Again, this is something that I got
on Miles a little bit on in the game preview.
I wanted to see better efficiency, whether that was having
better efficiency from three, driving and attacking the rim, even
(12:57):
though it's really tough to do that against the guy
that is what seven three, seven four Victor we Minyama.
So again, that was kind of the other thing too,
going into this one, where I wasn't sure how the
Hornets were going to attack the paint. They did a
pretty good job at that too. I know that the
Spurs ended up winning the points in the paint battle,
but it was close fifty two to forty eight. Hornets
did a really good job hitting their threes. They finished
at about a forty five percent clip from beyond the
(13:18):
yard they go seventeen of thirty eight. But Miles, man,
that was just one hell of a shot. Again, he's
just very clutching these moments. I go back to that
Detroit that, I go back to that Chicago game at
the end of December. He had a terrible game from three. Now,
granted there were a lot of missing pieces in that one.
LaMelo Ball did not play. A lot of the offense
had to go through Miles, And that's the situation right
(13:38):
now is if players are out and Miles is the
main focal point of the defense, his efficiency is not
very good. He takes a lot of shots, he gets
to twenty twenty five points, but it takes them one
while to get there. Not a fault by Miles, that's
just the reality of situation is he doesn't have a
whole lot of help around him. But now you bring
in a piece like LaMelo Ball back first time he
was back in five games yesterday, Miles just looks so
much better efficiently at that point. So clearly my player
(14:01):
of the game Miles, big time clutch shot. And oh,
by the way, we never mentioned this on the podcast
yet want it to not have use of nurkid your
Dalt connect available for that one. Yesterday too, they were
still with the trade pending situation, still trying to work
their way to Charlotte, so anticipating them joining the team
soon obviously, But again Hornet's we're very very shorthanded in
this one.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Once again, Yeah, I agree with all of that. Also
on the Miles Bridge stuff. On the efficiency, I mean,
it's totally locked into LaMelo. It's totally locked into LaMelo,
and he has done a brilliant job, I think, navigating
some very troubled waters when the team's dealing with all
of these injuries. But you can see what kind of
weapon he really is when LaMelo Ball joins up with him.
(14:41):
Just a couple of notes here, twenty first consecutive game
with a made three for Miles. As you mentioned, some
of them had gotten a little dicey down the stretch
on whether or not he would make that three because
he's going one on five so much when LaMelo was out.
But LaMelo comes back and lo and behold, there are
open catch and shoot threes for Miles Bridges to be had,
and he's take making him been making them with confidence.
(15:01):
Ends up with the team high twenty five points in
this one. It is his one hundred twenty eighth career
twenty point game that ties him with Alonzo Mourning for
the seventh most in franchise history. Yet another list that
he continues to climb. A couple of cap tips here.
It was not only LaMelo ball making brilliant assists. The
team finished with its second highest assist total of the season.
(15:26):
They ended the contest with thirty three and two players
had career highs in the assist column, Musa di Abate,
who finished with six assists. You were joking at halftime,
Musi Diabate for a triple double. I mean he kind
of got close. Nine points, fifteen rebounds, not quite but
close to a career high and six assists, which doubled
his previous career high. Previous best was three ends up
(15:49):
with six. Just a really good job engaging Wembin Yama
and giving it up and getting good looks. So great.
Great game from Musa in the post. And also Dawan
Jeffries gets a start a rarity for him over the
course of his career, but plugged in very nicely and
he finished with a career high five assists as well.
But the person who led the game in that category
(16:12):
is my considering you took. Miles Bridges has to be
number one, but one a LaMelo ball for Star of
the Night. Bridges to the corner for Da Kwan Jeffries,
He'll drive, throws it out wide corner three Lamello yes, sir,
you the string section. That's twenty four for LaMelo Ball.
(16:34):
LaMelo tremendous, tremendous game. And you know, seeing him come
back to the offense, it's like having coffee for the
first time. It's you know, you're introduced to this special
thing that you didn't know you needed in your life.
I know you don't drink coffee. We need caffeine in general,
maybe caffeine in general. He just he brings the offense
(16:56):
to life. He brings everything to life for the Hornets
out there. The energy, the enthusiasm all changes just by
having your one superstar on the floor, and his impact
was instantaneous. Finishes the game with twenty four points. The
final assist the game winner is his tenth of the night,
giving him a double double. That is the ninth of
his season, sixty third of his career, and in terms
(17:18):
of ten assist games, that's the forty ninth of his
check that forty eighth of his career. That ties him
with Charlotte legend Baron Davis for the fourth most enfranchise
history forty eight ten plus assist games. Amazing accomplishment. Also,
he's now made a three in all thirty two games
(17:38):
he's played this season and fifty one consecutive games overall.
His career long streak is fifty three, so he could should,
possibly will achieve a new career high for consecutive games
with a made three coming up on this upcoming road trip.
Speaking of which game one of it, it's going to
(17:59):
be a record nine game road trip when it's all
said and done. But it's broken up on either end
of the All Star break, thank goodness. Charlotte begins in
Detroit on Sunday. We'll have our game preview for Hornets
Pistons Round four, the finale next here on the Hornets
Iive Cast, Sam Farbara, Rob Longo here with you on
the HHC The Hornetsodcast, brought to you by Cena. It
(18:21):
is Super Bowl weekend. Hornet's coming off a thrilling victory
one seventeen to one to sixteen over the Spurs. A
lot of late nights over the trade deadline period. We
gave you our trade deadline breakdown the other day, so
go back through the archives check it out. We'll also
hope to talk to Hornet's President of Basketball Operations, Jeff
Peterson at some point here in the not too distant
(18:43):
future or anyone about the deals that are done for
the Hornets, So look out for that sound on future
episodes of the Hornets Hive cast. But given for the moment,
we don't have necessarily anything extra to bring us into
the office. I think we're gonna Givelongo and myself a
day off for travel and relaxation where we can find it,
(19:04):
and we'll give you our game preview right now for
Hornets versus Pistons. So we're gonna break this one down,
Rob Longo Detroit. They're coming off of good stretch here
of basketball, all things considered. Pistons are in a top
six spot right now in the Eastern Conference with a
twenty six and twenty six record. They won their most
(19:24):
recent game, although they had it without Kate Cunningham. He
was out with an ankle injury. We don't know what
his status is going to be necessarily for Sunday's matchup
with the Hornets, but that's what was going on for
him in his last game. Hornets, of course, have taken
two out of three from the Pistons. Each team is
one on its home floor. No home court advantage is
not fair for a stat of the game, so no
(19:46):
fair picking that one, rob Loongo, only positive stuff, only positive.
We need a player to watch for both teams, as
well as the stat to watch other than the points
or home court advantage, because that's cheating. Whoever scores the
most points wins the game. Roblongo, where should we begin?
Speaker 7 (20:00):
You keep adding caveats to the stats.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Of the.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Spectrum Center.
Speaker 7 (20:05):
Okay, it's yeah, all right. So yeah, by the.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Way, amazing crowd. Amazing crowd that last game.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Yeah, sellout too, by the way, So crowd's been great
for the entirety of the nine game Homestand two, I
know it wasn't the results that the fans were hoping for,
but again, big kudos to the Hornets fans for coming
out over the course of the nine game Homestand maybe
they're just gonna be missing everybody here because we're not
gonna be back for a month. Well, you're not gonna
be back for a month, so maybe I'll forget what
you look like, Sam.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
But anyways, it is radio. I don't know that that matters.
Speaker 7 (20:32):
I have the face for radio.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
But anyways, again, Uh, Detroit wins at one twenty five
to one twelve against Philly on Friday night. You mentioned
no Kid Cunningham, so I'm gonna avoid him in terms
of my Detroit player to watch. Really good game by
Malik Beasley, career high thirty six points in that one.
Not my player to watch. I'm gonna take Tobias Harris.
He had twenty two in that game, didn't attempt the three,
which I thought was a little bizarre eight to sixteen
though from the field, made all six of his free throws,
(20:55):
nine rebounds, three assists. He was a little bit of
a Hornet killer. The last time did these two teams met,
early in January. Both teams a little short handed. Hornets
lost ninety eight to ninety four in Detroit. Miles Bridges
did have a team high twenty in that one, but
Tobias Harris went for a game high twenty four in
that contest. So if he's constantly pumping out north of
twenty night in and night out, and we don't know
the status of Kate Cunningham going into Sunday, I'm gonna
(21:17):
take Tobias Harris as my Detroit player to watch.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Always a good pick to take him. He is exceptional
out there, so I like the pick. I'm gonna go
with Jalen Duran. You know, we said going into the
San Antonio game that even though they have the biggest
player on the floor in Victor wembin Yama, they are
not per se a big team. They don't play inside
out all that much. They're more of a perimeter team
with outstanding talent like Victor webbin Yama and Dearon Fox,
(21:43):
and they're able to kind of tear you apart from
the outside end. But they're not necessarily a squad that
goes out for the onset saying, well, we're gonna sit
our big man in the post and let him go
to work on you. Detroit is kind of that team. Now,
Duran is not necessarily the guy that has a ton
of post moves, but Jalen Duran is the guy who
can absolutely eat you alive from the interior, and when
(22:04):
he has a double double, the Pistons get very, very
difficult to beat. We don't know what the status is
going to be for the Hornets at the center spot
going into this one as of the recording of this podcast.
If they get use of Nurkic in there, that is
a total game changer for Charlotte and a big advantage.
But either way, Jalen Duran has a real strong ability
to impact play, and so that's why he is going
(22:25):
to be my Pistons player to watch. Next up stat
to watch or Hornet to watch.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Let's go ahead with a stat to watch, just because
you're kind of jogging my memory here a little bit
or at least something that I want to touch on here,
and you talk about how big that Detroit can be,
and we don't know what's going to be happening with
the center position for the Hornets going into this one
as of the recording of this podcast, of course, but
if you go back and you look at what transpired
in the game for the Hornets on Friday, Hornets did
(22:52):
a pretty good job in a paint. We already kind
of touched on that a little bit there, just because
they were able to keep pace for the most part
with san Antonio forty eight points in a pain compared
to fifty two for san Antonio. You know who else
scored fifty two points in the paint on Friday, Detroit,
they outscored Philly fifty two to thirty six points in
a paint. Philly's got Joel Embiid, they got Audrey Drummond
(23:14):
and they can't put up forty points in the paint.
I mean, I know it's Philadelphia and they're in a
weird situation right now and they're trying to figure it out.
But I mean, if you're able to dominate somebody fifty
two to thirty six, and they got a guy that
was an MVP and he's a center, I know he
likes to shoot threes and he's a stretch five in
this sense in today's day and age of the NBA,
and they can't get forty points in a paint, I
think that there's a little bit of an ability there
(23:35):
on the other side too for Detroit to keep them
out of the paint. So I think that the points
in the paint could be an interesting statistic to watch
in this one for both sides. Whether it's you know,
the Hornets having another good three point shooting night, or
if it's Detroit just going to work with Jalen Duran
and Isaiah Stewart in the blocks. I mean, that's that's
the other possibility too as well. So I think that
the points in the paint's going to be an interesting
(23:56):
number to look at, just whether it swings one way
or the other. If the Horne try to match that
dominant points in a paint that the Pistons like to do,
or if it's just going to be a big disparity
like it was between the Pistons and Sixers on Friday,
and it obviously swung in the favor of Detroit. So
I think that the points in the pain is going
to be my number to watch this for a multitude
of reasons.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Yeah, I mean everything you said there checks out. They've
got a ton of talent in terms of their you know,
their big men. They've got guys who are really able
to you know, collapse the defense, drive down low high flyers,
as sar Thompson comes to mind. But with all that said,
I'm gonna let the history of this head to head
matchup be my guide, and so I'm going in the
exact opposite direction and focusing on the three point line.
(24:37):
In the first three games. To put it simply, whoever
made the more threes won the game. In Detroit, Hornets
made nine triples, Pistons knocked down twelve. They won that game.
In the two games at Spectrum Center, Charlotte made twenty
and fourteen, respectively, Pistons seventeen to ten win the three
column win the game. And you can tell by those
numbers it's not a huge disparity. These games have all
(25:00):
been close. Charlotte, of course, won on a buzzer beater
a Brandon Miller put back early in the season, so
you know that that was obviously a one possession game.
There have been a lot of really close contests, so
winning the three point margin has been a good indicator.
It tends to be a decent indicator overall on the season.
Was the other night for the Hornets and the win
(25:21):
over San Antonio, and it certainly has been in this matchup.
So I'll say whoever wins the three point shot, whoever
makes more of them, is going to win the contest.
Last up, Hornet's player.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
To watch might be low hanging fruit, especially after Friday's game,
but I'm gonna go ahead and take Miles Bridges.
Speaker 7 (25:36):
Am I allowed to do that?
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Am I allowed to take him as star of the
night and the player to watch for the following game?
Speaker 7 (25:40):
Is that allowed?
Speaker 2 (25:41):
I mean, it's not creative, but it is correct. I'm saying,
you know, go with an original pick. But I agree
with you, Well has been great and he's going back home.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Well that's what I'm saying. Flint, Michigan native had twenty points.
Last time that these two teams played up in Michigan
was a team high. Again, not a lot of pieces
around him to propel him to maybe a little bit
of a better scoring ledger. But again, if you go
back and you look at the efficiency from the game
yesterday against stan Antonio or Friday, the metting on when
you're listening to this podcast, I'll reiterating in case you
(26:11):
missed it earlier, ten of eighteen from the field, three
for six from beyond the yard, hit both of his
free throws, seven rebounds. To this, he did not turn
the ball over in the game on Friday either. That
was huge for the Hornets after both teams didn't really
turn the ball over a ton. Hornets had eleven, san
Antonio had eight. But again, Miles was the only starter
that didn't turn the ball over at least once. He
(26:32):
does a really good job just fitting in his role.
When you have to have him play out of his role,
he can still produce and I think that we've been
able to see that here over the last couple of
weeks now with all the injuries and absences, But when
he's in there with LaMelo Ball and a couple of
other pieces. Musa Diabatti has been playing really well. That's
starting five that the Hornets had to switch out a
little bit with the kawand Jefferies stepping into the fold
(26:52):
with Josh Green out of Friday's game.
Speaker 7 (26:54):
I mean, if you go back and you look at.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
The normal four, I guess you could save right now
as it stands LaMelo All, Nick Smith Junior, Miles Bridges
moves to the abatte. When those four are out on
the floor together, Miles is able to thrive. I would
love to go in and look at their four man
plus minus. I didn't get a chance to do that
before this segment, but I'm gonna have to take a
deep dive into that and see how often they play together,
which probably isn't a lot because of all the injuries
and absences, But I want to see what their numbers
(27:17):
look like, and I want to see what their efficiency
looks like as well. And Miles is a great byproduct
of having pieces around him and having the ability to flourish.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
No question about it, Miles has been tremendous all season long,
and his game is just as strong in terms of
the counting stats, but far, far, far more efficient the
more high quality players you have around him, and especially
LaMelo taking so much of that ball handling responsibility off
of his plate. That's huge. I'm gonna go with Nick
(27:47):
Smith Junior as my pick for a player to watch.
He has been spectacular as the now starting two guard
for this team. It is not an easy job filling
in for Brandon Miller. B Mill has had an extending
start to his career. All Rookie team selection, first Team
(28:08):
All Rookie last season, qualified for the Rising Stars again
this season. He'll be in the Bay Area. Unfortunately, can't play,
of course, due to the torn ligament in his right
wrist that had to be repaired. Twenty one points per
game for him in his second season. Nick Smith Junior
is hitting his stride and only one of the last
four games has included LaMelo ball. But you know what,
he's averaging points per game wise in his last four games,
(28:30):
twenty one points per game. He's averaging the same thing
Brandon Miller did. I want to be clear about this,
I am not saying that we found the replacement. No,
this is another weapon to add in here. No, No,
this is another weapon to add in in addition to
Brandon Miller. But this is a young player, Nick Smith Junior,
who's starting to come into his own. He's only twenty
(28:51):
years old. This is a young young guy who's finding confidence.
His last four games twenty one points a night, fifty
three percent from three. That's at times without LaMelo. That's
also in this last game with LaMelo. So I want
to see him put another one on top of it.
And the new wrinkle for this one, it's not over
the entirety of his time as a starter, but it
is for the course of this streak of games where
(29:12):
he's had fifteen or twenty or more points, he's going
to have to do it on the road in a
more hostile environment. So that'll be a new wrinkle here
for this stretch of play. But I'm looking forward to
seeing how Nick Smith Junior handles this task at hand.
All Right, that's going to do it for this episode
of the HC Jam. Pat congrats to the Hornets for
a thrilling win to wrap up the home stand as
(29:33):
well as all home games for the month of February.
A reminder we are coming back eventually to Spectrum Center.
It's just going to be a while. You can join
us for the month of March and portions of April,
as well Charlotte's next home game against the Washington Wizards
on Saturday, March. The first tickets for that one, as
well as the games after that, March third of Monday
(29:55):
against the Golden State Warriors and the fifth a Wednesday
against the Minnesota Timberwolves one and all. They're available at
Hornets dot com. Rob Longo always good to talk to you,
my friend. I'll see it in March.
Speaker 6 (30:05):
No, no, no, yes, I I couldn't resist.
Speaker 7 (30:11):
I to get that in one more time. Set me
up perfect from that.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I don't know that I did. I don't think the
answer was yes, so we could get that that WWE guy.
Speaker 7 (30:20):
Yes, yes, there you go. I like that.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
We'll miss your buddy. Some late nights ahead for you,
but enjoy the break when it comes here, and we'll
talk to you Sunday from the Motor City.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Sounds good and there's a lot of stuff going on
on Sunday. I know you said it on the pregame show.
I'm gonna get you here. Who you got I'm going
to Eagles.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I'm going I think they're the better team. I love
Andy Reid. I'm so happy for him getting his flowers
as one of the great coaches in the game. But
I think the Eagles are the better team. I think
Saquon Barkley wins it for Philly.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
It pains me to root for a Philadelphia team, That's
all I'm gonna say.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Does that mean you.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Are I kind of don't have a choice? You do,
There's two, There's always a choice. I yes, what are
you rooting for? We got I'm rooting for the.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Eagles and you're picking all right? There you go. You
heard it here first, Roblongo picks the Eagles, all right.
Speaker 7 (31:05):
Strew up in my mouth a little bit.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Thank you all for tuning in for Roblongo. I'm Sam
Farber saying it's been a pleasure, in a privilege having
you along. We'll talk to you tomorrow right here on
the Hornets Podcast.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Thank you for listening to The Hornets Podcast, brought to
you by Santa, the official i ear nosen throad Care
provider of the Charlotte Hornets. For more coverage, visit Hornets
dot com.
Welcome to the Hornets Hovecast, presented by Charlotte I ear
nosen Throat Associates, the official I ear nosen Throatcare provider
of the Charlotte Hornets. Here's your host, Sam Farber.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to another edition of the Hornets Podcast, Your Hornets
Podcast with all the notes, quote, san daily buzz around
your favorite NBA team. I'm Sam Farber and it is
a pleasure and a privileged heavy with us here once
again on the Hornet'sive Cast, brought to you by Sena
Charlotte I ear Nose and Throat Associates, the official I
ear nosen Throacare provider of your Charlotte Hornets. What a
win it was last night at the Hive, Hornets taking
(00:37):
down the San Antonio Spurs one seventeen to one sixteen,
a game winner in the closing seconds from Miles Bridges.
The team hangs on despite the ball going through the
cylinder at the end from the Aaron Fox. He let
it go after the buzzer and so the Hornets grab
a win in the return of LaMelo ball. So much
to break down in this one. Also because it's a
(00:57):
weekend and you know the Super Bowl is happening on Sunday.
We decided to give Rob Longo a break and so
we will have our game preview for Hornets versus Pistons
at the end of this podcast. Lots of sound, lots
of players and personnel to hear from. From this game winner,
We're going to jump right into it with my producer
on the Hornets Reno Network, as well as the producer
of this fine podcast, someone who is very much looking
(01:18):
forward to working on Super Bowl Sunday, Rob Longo. Rob,
what a win. What a way to wrap up a
record long nine game homestand that was filled with so
much frustration with injuries and uncertainty around the trade deadline
ends up being a tremendous trade deadline from the Hornets
perspective in terms of acquiring additional draft capital and preserving
(01:40):
your top three scores LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Miles
Bridges on the roster. But we'll save that for another
podcast because this game deserves all the attention. Charlotte winning
for the thirteenth time this season, second time on the
home stand on the back of a game winner from
Miles Bridges one to seventeen to one to sixteen. The
final score over Victor wen Binyama in the San Antonio.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Spurs, and for the most part it was I don't
want to call it a dominating win, but it was
one that the Hornets were in control for the most part.
San Antonio scored the first bucket of the game. The
Hornets led it almost the entirety of the contest until
the fourth quarter. And you got to give credit where
credits due. Stefon Castle career high thirty three points. That
was a heck of a performance by him. He was
the first Spur to have thirty or more points off
(02:21):
the bench since nineteen eighty seven.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
So Mino Genobili came off the bench.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I mean, like, yeah, isn't that impressive. So, I mean,
all things considered, it was a great job there by
san Antonio to claw back ended this one. San Antonio
got its first lead since that to nothing advantage with
about seven point nine seconds left to go in the
contest there. So I started doing the math a little
bit before we get to the big crescendo here at
the end. But I was looking at it and I
(02:46):
was like, well, if this score holds, then san Antonio
would have led for an entirety of had it written
down twenty six seconds in the game, so you know
they scored a first bucket I think seventeen seconds into
the contest. You had seven point nine one o'clock there. Albeit,
they had that lead a little bit at the end
of the game, but it did not last for very long.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
That means the Hornets would have led for forty seven
and a half minutes of a game and potentially lost,
but the heroics were there. Seconds left in the contest,
Hornets are down two after Dearon Fox knocks down an
elbow jumper to make it one sixteen, one point fourteen
in favor of the Spurs. Charlotte draws up a play.
They finally have LaMelo ball back again after a five
(03:27):
game absence, and he was so good on all of
these exact kinds of plays in closing seconds for really
the first month or two of the season. Then injuries
started to set in and the team just wasn't in
as many of these scenarios. But they get into one
on the final game of this homestand seven point two
seconds remaining Seth Curry inbounding. Here's how the play sounded.
(03:51):
The inbound to LaMelo one on one was so high
bill drive, goes up, kicks out Bridges corner creek for
the win. Yes, a just absolutely perfectly executed play. I'm
not gonna try and you know, overdo things here because
I want to let Coach Charles Lee explain what he
(04:12):
was looking for, what he saw in the play he
drew up, and then we'll react afterwards. But here's Hornet,
said Coach Charles Lee on that game winning play. In
the execution by LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges and everyone involved.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
You're looking for Miles on the back pick first, and
then it's Mellow's job to get open and then be
able to drive, and Miles just did a great job
of finishing his cut. Mello did a great job of
being Mellow and driving the ball and then again just
reading the defense at the rim.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Rob I mean, I don't know if there is a
more perfect execution of a play that you can have
at the end of the game than what LaMelo Ball
and the Hornets were able to do there on that
game winner. LaMelo gets the ball up on the wing.
There's seven some seconds remaining, so you know there's enough
time to do something here. You don't have to catch
(04:59):
and s he measures up Sohan, who's a very good defender,
drives right to the rim, engages a second defender. Miles
Bridges is wide open in the corner. LaMelo ball pinpoint,
perfect pass, and Miles Bridges takes it and makes it
with confidence, the exact kind of shots that we've been saying.
He has just made for catch and shoot, let it rip,
(05:22):
and he's able to sink it with all of the
pressure of that moment on him didn't phase him for
a second. His third three of the game and it's
the game winner. Finishes with twenty five points. Just again,
I don't think you can execute it any better. And
you know me, when I'm looking at these plays and
i'm grading it, I'm not grading it on did they
make it or miss it. It's execution. Did you do
(05:43):
what you were supposed to do. Did you get the
look that you wanted to, did you make the right
reads and reactions and everything everything, Everything about that play
to me was perfect.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
And Miles Bridges is the guy that you want to
take this shot. I know a lot of people would
say LaMelo because he's your superstar, he's your all star.
But if you go back and you think about it
at Miles Bridges has been doing these clutch moments for
the last two seasons. Now if you think about it,
obviously the one last night. I'm sure we'll talk about
Miles a lot here later on in the podcast, but
you go back to the one Miles had last night.
You go back to the end of December, ties the
(06:13):
game at ninety eight against Chicago in a similar situation,
gets a catch and show and had to kind of
navigate around Patrick Williams for Chicago a little bit, but
who's able to make it force overtime? Hornets don't win
that game. But then you go back to last season
as well, had a couple of buzzer beaters at the
beginning of the season he had won against Milwaukee. I
think he had another one in there too. I need
(06:33):
to go back and I need to look up his
clutch time statistics. But when it comes to these waning
moments and he's got an open look, he buries him.
And even if he doesn't have an open look, he
ends up baring him. But again, all the credit in
the world to the Melow ball. On that play, he
is flying downhill attacking the rim. Probably could have got
a shot up. It would have been contested, but just
to have the peace of mind and I know Miles,
(06:55):
we'll hear from Miles here in a moment, but to
realize that Miles is in the corner and a defense
collapse saw him so much. I mean, it was just
a phenomenal pass. It's one of the best passes I've
seen from LaMelo. I know everybody goes back to the
one that he had, like the behind the back kind
of bounce past from midquart a couple of seasons ago
for a dunk opportunity. But this one, man, this was
a pretty one in a very very clutch time moment.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, that that's gonna be on the highlight reel forever
for LaMelo. That was you cannot do it any better.
Miles Bridge knocks down the three in the corner. Here's
what Miles had to say after the game about his
game winning shot.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
Mello passed it to me, man on my run ar test.
But he attracked the whole defense. He hat checked the
whole defense the whole game. And I told him beforehand,
like when you drove to the hoop, I'm be open
in that corner and he passes to me, so I'll
do that.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Now, that's his half of the conversation, Lamello had his
own interpretation about what he was envisioning for the final
play and how the conversation went down with Miles. Here's Lamello,
the man who made the game winning assist after the game, all,
I ain't gonna lie right right before the shot or
before the play. I'm like, I'm gonna take the three,
so go crash. He said, I'm gonna be in a corner,
(08:04):
so just whatever whatever their In the end, he makes
the perfect read. Whatever the plan was, and it sounded
like from Charles Lee, the original plan was, you know
one of these inbounds plays where you throw a fade
pass basically to Miles Bridges to open up and let
him go to work. That wasn't open. LaMelo gets it
and makes the appropriate decision, blows by Sohn e Gauges,
(08:26):
the second defender throws to the corner, Miles Bridges wide open,
and then you live with the results. But again, as
you said, there are a few players on this team
you would rather take that shot in that moment than
Miles Bridges. And all that being said, Rob it almost
didn't matter because there was still one point one seconds
left on the clock and the Spurs had a time out.
(08:46):
They advanced the ball into the front court. They get
the ball to their newly acquired former All Star de
Aaron Fox. And here's how that sequence sounded. Lucidabade watching
Wendy near the post inbound in Paul to Fox Fox,
but three, it's after the budzho. It's after the budsho.
(09:08):
It's after the buds ho. They're gonna let you it.
There's no way he got that off on time.
Speaker 6 (09:14):
No no, no, I'm gonna clip those last three seconds
and I'm gonna send it to Sam's wife so when
he's on the road and the kids are misbehaving, so
you can just play that recording of no, No.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
No, because that's basically how it goes in the farmhousehold
when one of the kids is misbehaving. I've seen it
with my own two eyes. I love but that was
just a great You're all over it. Eric Collins was
all over and on the TV. I was sitting here
in the studio with Will Polachia getting ready for Hornet's
post game, and I was kind of all over it too.
I'm not gonna criticize the officials because I like my
money and I'm not gonna get fine. But it seemed
(09:48):
like in real time it was pretty evident that that
play was not gonna count because the ball was in
Fox's handstill, and they called it good I think in
the moment, but then they really quickly did the monma.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
First, they kind of huddled on it. They signaled that
it was a three, and then they talked about and
then they said on the floor it is no good
and really it doesn't matter because you're reviewing it. So
whether you I mean, it's not gonna be a tie,
it's going to be one or the other. So you're
going to go look at the monitors. So a slight
delayed there, but it ends up being afterwards phenomenal shot
(10:19):
by the Aaron Fox. Phenomenal. That's why he was brought
there to have those kinds of plays, so that Victor
Wembenyama is covered up. There's another superstar to take superstar
level shots. It just happened to be a touch late.
Nick Smith Junior the defensive play, by the way, another
great game for Nick Smith Junior, finishing with nineteen points.
(10:39):
Here's what he had to say about that final sequence. Hey,
that was a touch shot.
Speaker 7 (10:44):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I thought he made it.
Speaker 8 (10:45):
I was go just be so mad a lot, but
I think the time went out. But you know, it
was a good win for us. We came out aggressive,
and you know, we just wanted to stay aggressive. So
you know, our coaches, you know this has been a
big factor for us, just going there and just play
our game and play aggression.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
So that's what we did. Hornets win it one seventeen
to one sixteen, as thrilling a closing ten seconds of
basketball as you're ever gonna find. That's why you go
to NBA games. That's what you're hoping to see, and
it can happen any game you never ever ever know. Sadly,
we are not going to have another home game until March,
but make your plans. See it Spectrum Center March first,
(11:23):
when the Hornets return to the Hive. We gotta pick
Stars of the night. We gotta get you ready for
Hornets versus Pistons on Sunday, when some other game is
also happening that day. We will have our Stars of
the Night coming up next here on the Hornets Time Cast,
Sam farbar Roblongo here with you on the HHC The
Hornet time cast brought to you by cent A. Hornets
(11:43):
win a thriller one to seventeen one sixteen over the
San Antonio Spurs. Miles Bridges the game winner, LaMelo ball
game winning assist. He ends up with a double double.
Couple of players had career highs and assist totals five
finish and double figures. There's a ton a ton of
choice for start of the night, Rob Longo, I think
it's obvious. I think, listen, if you hit a game winner,
(12:07):
you better be the number one start. So don't screw
this up, you know what?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
So no, no, no, no, oh, we're gonna do this again.
I could have just played the record againstead and saved
you three seconds of fresh air. But I mean in
fairness too, I mean Lamello had a hell of a
pass to open up Myles Bridges, so there is a
little bit of competition. But yeah, if you're gonna leave
him open, I'm taking Miles Bridges and bound to Lamello.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
One. I one was so high. Bill Drive goes up,
kicks out Bridges, corner three for the web.
Speaker 7 (12:33):
Yes, so nice.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
We had to hear it twice here on The Hornets
haveive cast and Miles just a phenomenal game. Game high
twenty five points at the end of it, finishes very
efficiently two ten of eighteen, shooting three to six from
three seven rebounds. Again, this is something that I got
on Miles a little bit on in the game preview.
I wanted to see better efficiency, whether that was having
better efficiency from three, driving and attacking the rim, even
(12:57):
though it's really tough to do that against the guy
that is what seven three, seven four Victor we Minyama.
So again, that was kind of the other thing too,
going into this one, where I wasn't sure how the
Hornets were going to attack the paint. They did a
pretty good job at that too. I know that the
Spurs ended up winning the points in the paint battle,
but it was close fifty two to forty eight. Hornets
did a really good job hitting their threes. They finished
at about a forty five percent clip from beyond the
(13:18):
yard they go seventeen of thirty eight. But Miles, man,
that was just one hell of a shot. Again, he's
just very clutching these moments. I go back to that
Detroit that, I go back to that Chicago game at
the end of December. He had a terrible game from three. Now,
granted there were a lot of missing pieces in that one.
LaMelo Ball did not play. A lot of the offense
had to go through Miles, And that's the situation right
(13:38):
now is if players are out and Miles is the
main focal point of the defense, his efficiency is not
very good. He takes a lot of shots, he gets
to twenty twenty five points, but it takes them one
while to get there. Not a fault by Miles, that's
just the reality of situation is he doesn't have a
whole lot of help around him. But now you bring
in a piece like LaMelo Ball back first time he
was back in five games yesterday, Miles just looks so
much better efficiently at that point. So clearly my player
(14:01):
of the game Miles, big time clutch shot. And oh,
by the way, we never mentioned this on the podcast
yet want it to not have use of nurkid your
Dalt connect available for that one. Yesterday too, they were
still with the trade pending situation, still trying to work
their way to Charlotte, so anticipating them joining the team
soon obviously, But again Hornet's we're very very shorthanded in
this one.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Once again, Yeah, I agree with all of that. Also
on the Miles Bridge stuff. On the efficiency, I mean,
it's totally locked into LaMelo. It's totally locked into LaMelo,
and he has done a brilliant job, I think, navigating
some very troubled waters when the team's dealing with all
of these injuries. But you can see what kind of
weapon he really is when LaMelo Ball joins up with him.
(14:41):
Just a couple of notes here, twenty first consecutive game
with a made three for Miles. As you mentioned, some
of them had gotten a little dicey down the stretch
on whether or not he would make that three because
he's going one on five so much when LaMelo was out.
But LaMelo comes back and lo and behold, there are
open catch and shoot threes for Miles Bridges to be had,
and he's take making him been making them with confidence.
(15:01):
Ends up with the team high twenty five points in
this one. It is his one hundred twenty eighth career
twenty point game that ties him with Alonzo Mourning for
the seventh most in franchise history. Yet another list that
he continues to climb. A couple of cap tips here.
It was not only LaMelo ball making brilliant assists. The
team finished with its second highest assist total of the season.
(15:26):
They ended the contest with thirty three and two players
had career highs in the assist column, Musa di Abate,
who finished with six assists. You were joking at halftime,
Musi Diabate for a triple double. I mean he kind
of got close. Nine points, fifteen rebounds, not quite but
close to a career high and six assists, which doubled
his previous career high. Previous best was three ends up
(15:49):
with six. Just a really good job engaging Wembin Yama
and giving it up and getting good looks. So great.
Great game from Musa in the post. And also Dawan
Jeffries gets a start a rarity for him over the
course of his career, but plugged in very nicely and
he finished with a career high five assists as well.
But the person who led the game in that category
(16:12):
is my considering you took. Miles Bridges has to be
number one, but one a LaMelo ball for Star of
the Night. Bridges to the corner for Da Kwan Jeffries,
He'll drive, throws it out wide corner three Lamello yes, sir,
you the string section. That's twenty four for LaMelo Ball.
(16:34):
LaMelo tremendous, tremendous game. And you know, seeing him come
back to the offense, it's like having coffee for the
first time. It's you know, you're introduced to this special
thing that you didn't know you needed in your life.
I know you don't drink coffee. We need caffeine in general,
maybe caffeine in general. He just he brings the offense
(16:56):
to life. He brings everything to life for the Hornets
out there. The energy, the enthusiasm all changes just by
having your one superstar on the floor, and his impact
was instantaneous. Finishes the game with twenty four points. The
final assist the game winner is his tenth of the night,
giving him a double double. That is the ninth of
his season, sixty third of his career, and in terms
(17:18):
of ten assist games, that's the forty ninth of his
check that forty eighth of his career. That ties him
with Charlotte legend Baron Davis for the fourth most enfranchise
history forty eight ten plus assist games. Amazing accomplishment. Also,
he's now made a three in all thirty two games
(17:38):
he's played this season and fifty one consecutive games overall.
His career long streak is fifty three, so he could should,
possibly will achieve a new career high for consecutive games
with a made three coming up on this upcoming road trip.
Speaking of which game one of it, it's going to
(17:59):
be a record nine game road trip when it's all
said and done. But it's broken up on either end
of the All Star break, thank goodness. Charlotte begins in
Detroit on Sunday. We'll have our game preview for Hornets
Pistons Round four, the finale next here on the Hornets
Iive Cast, Sam Farbara, Rob Longo here with you on
the HHC The Hornetsodcast, brought to you by Cena. It
(18:21):
is Super Bowl weekend. Hornet's coming off a thrilling victory
one seventeen to one to sixteen over the Spurs. A
lot of late nights over the trade deadline period. We
gave you our trade deadline breakdown the other day, so
go back through the archives check it out. We'll also
hope to talk to Hornet's President of Basketball Operations, Jeff
Peterson at some point here in the not too distant
(18:43):
future or anyone about the deals that are done for
the Hornets, So look out for that sound on future
episodes of the Hornets Hive cast. But given for the moment,
we don't have necessarily anything extra to bring us into
the office. I think we're gonna Givelongo and myself a
day off for travel and relaxation where we can find it,
(19:04):
and we'll give you our game preview right now for
Hornets versus Pistons. So we're gonna break this one down,
Rob Longo Detroit. They're coming off of good stretch here
of basketball, all things considered. Pistons are in a top
six spot right now in the Eastern Conference with a
twenty six and twenty six record. They won their most
(19:24):
recent game, although they had it without Kate Cunningham. He
was out with an ankle injury. We don't know what
his status is going to be necessarily for Sunday's matchup
with the Hornets, but that's what was going on for
him in his last game. Hornets, of course, have taken
two out of three from the Pistons. Each team is
one on its home floor. No home court advantage is
not fair for a stat of the game, so no
(19:46):
fair picking that one, rob Loongo, only positive stuff, only positive.
We need a player to watch for both teams, as
well as the stat to watch other than the points
or home court advantage, because that's cheating. Whoever scores the
most points wins the game. Roblongo, where should we begin?
Speaker 7 (20:00):
You keep adding caveats to the stats.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Of the.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Spectrum Center.
Speaker 7 (20:05):
Okay, it's yeah, all right. So yeah, by the.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Way, amazing crowd. Amazing crowd that last game.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Yeah, sellout too, by the way, So crowd's been great
for the entirety of the nine game Homestand two, I
know it wasn't the results that the fans were hoping for,
but again, big kudos to the Hornets fans for coming
out over the course of the nine game Homestand maybe
they're just gonna be missing everybody here because we're not
gonna be back for a month. Well, you're not gonna
be back for a month, so maybe I'll forget what
you look like, Sam.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
But anyways, it is radio. I don't know that that matters.
Speaker 7 (20:32):
I have the face for radio.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
But anyways, again, Uh, Detroit wins at one twenty five
to one twelve against Philly on Friday night. You mentioned
no Kid Cunningham, so I'm gonna avoid him in terms
of my Detroit player to watch. Really good game by
Malik Beasley, career high thirty six points in that one.
Not my player to watch. I'm gonna take Tobias Harris.
He had twenty two in that game, didn't attempt the three,
which I thought was a little bizarre eight to sixteen
though from the field, made all six of his free throws,
(20:55):
nine rebounds, three assists. He was a little bit of
a Hornet killer. The last time did these two teams met,
early in January. Both teams a little short handed. Hornets
lost ninety eight to ninety four in Detroit. Miles Bridges
did have a team high twenty in that one, but
Tobias Harris went for a game high twenty four in
that contest. So if he's constantly pumping out north of
twenty night in and night out, and we don't know
the status of Kate Cunningham going into Sunday, I'm gonna
(21:17):
take Tobias Harris as my Detroit player to watch.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Always a good pick to take him. He is exceptional
out there, so I like the pick. I'm gonna go
with Jalen Duran. You know, we said going into the
San Antonio game that even though they have the biggest
player on the floor in Victor wembin Yama, they are
not per se a big team. They don't play inside
out all that much. They're more of a perimeter team
with outstanding talent like Victor webbin Yama and Dearon Fox,
(21:43):
and they're able to kind of tear you apart from
the outside end. But they're not necessarily a squad that
goes out for the onset saying, well, we're gonna sit
our big man in the post and let him go
to work on you. Detroit is kind of that team. Now,
Duran is not necessarily the guy that has a ton
of post moves, but Jalen Duran is the guy who
can absolutely eat you alive from the interior, and when
(22:04):
he has a double double, the Pistons get very, very
difficult to beat. We don't know what the status is
going to be for the Hornets at the center spot
going into this one as of the recording of this podcast.
If they get use of Nurkic in there, that is
a total game changer for Charlotte and a big advantage.
But either way, Jalen Duran has a real strong ability
to impact play, and so that's why he is going
(22:25):
to be my Pistons player to watch. Next up stat
to watch or Hornet to watch.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Let's go ahead with a stat to watch, just because
you're kind of jogging my memory here a little bit
or at least something that I want to touch on here,
and you talk about how big that Detroit can be,
and we don't know what's going to be happening with
the center position for the Hornets going into this one
as of the recording of this podcast, of course, but
if you go back and you look at what transpired
in the game for the Hornets on Friday, Hornets did
(22:52):
a pretty good job in a paint. We already kind
of touched on that a little bit there, just because
they were able to keep pace for the most part
with san Antonio forty eight points in a pain compared
to fifty two for san Antonio. You know who else
scored fifty two points in the paint on Friday, Detroit,
they outscored Philly fifty two to thirty six points in
a paint. Philly's got Joel Embiid, they got Audrey Drummond
(23:14):
and they can't put up forty points in the paint.
I mean, I know it's Philadelphia and they're in a
weird situation right now and they're trying to figure it out.
But I mean, if you're able to dominate somebody fifty
two to thirty six, and they got a guy that
was an MVP and he's a center, I know he
likes to shoot threes and he's a stretch five in
this sense in today's day and age of the NBA,
and they can't get forty points in a paint, I
think that there's a little bit of an ability there
(23:35):
on the other side too for Detroit to keep them
out of the paint. So I think that the points
in the paint could be an interesting statistic to watch
in this one for both sides. Whether it's you know,
the Hornets having another good three point shooting night, or
if it's Detroit just going to work with Jalen Duran
and Isaiah Stewart in the blocks. I mean, that's that's
the other possibility too as well. So I think that
the points in the paint's going to be an interesting
(23:56):
number to look at, just whether it swings one way
or the other. If the Horne try to match that
dominant points in a paint that the Pistons like to do,
or if it's just going to be a big disparity
like it was between the Pistons and Sixers on Friday,
and it obviously swung in the favor of Detroit. So
I think that the points in the pain is going
to be my number to watch this for a multitude
of reasons.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Yeah, I mean everything you said there checks out. They've
got a ton of talent in terms of their you know,
their big men. They've got guys who are really able
to you know, collapse the defense, drive down low high flyers,
as sar Thompson comes to mind. But with all that said,
I'm gonna let the history of this head to head
matchup be my guide, and so I'm going in the
exact opposite direction and focusing on the three point line.
(24:37):
In the first three games. To put it simply, whoever
made the more threes won the game. In Detroit, Hornets
made nine triples, Pistons knocked down twelve. They won that game.
In the two games at Spectrum Center, Charlotte made twenty
and fourteen, respectively, Pistons seventeen to ten win the three
column win the game. And you can tell by those
numbers it's not a huge disparity. These games have all
(25:00):
been close. Charlotte, of course, won on a buzzer beater
a Brandon Miller put back early in the season, so
you know that that was obviously a one possession game.
There have been a lot of really close contests, so
winning the three point margin has been a good indicator.
It tends to be a decent indicator overall on the season.
Was the other night for the Hornets and the win
(25:21):
over San Antonio, and it certainly has been in this matchup.
So I'll say whoever wins the three point shot, whoever
makes more of them, is going to win the contest.
Last up, Hornet's player.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
To watch might be low hanging fruit, especially after Friday's game,
but I'm gonna go ahead and take Miles Bridges.
Speaker 7 (25:36):
Am I allowed to do that?
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Am I allowed to take him as star of the
night and the player to watch for the following game?
Speaker 7 (25:40):
Is that allowed?
Speaker 2 (25:41):
I mean, it's not creative, but it is correct. I'm saying,
you know, go with an original pick. But I agree
with you, Well has been great and he's going back home.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Well that's what I'm saying. Flint, Michigan native had twenty points.
Last time that these two teams played up in Michigan
was a team high. Again, not a lot of pieces
around him to propel him to maybe a little bit
of a better scoring ledger. But again, if you go
back and you look at the efficiency from the game
yesterday against stan Antonio or Friday, the metting on when
you're listening to this podcast, I'll reiterating in case you
(26:11):
missed it earlier, ten of eighteen from the field, three
for six from beyond the yard, hit both of his
free throws, seven rebounds. To this, he did not turn
the ball over in the game on Friday either. That
was huge for the Hornets after both teams didn't really
turn the ball over a ton. Hornets had eleven, san
Antonio had eight. But again, Miles was the only starter
that didn't turn the ball over at least once. He
(26:32):
does a really good job just fitting in his role.
When you have to have him play out of his role,
he can still produce and I think that we've been
able to see that here over the last couple of
weeks now with all the injuries and absences, But when
he's in there with LaMelo Ball and a couple of
other pieces. Musa Diabatti has been playing really well. That's
starting five that the Hornets had to switch out a
little bit with the kawand Jefferies stepping into the fold
(26:52):
with Josh Green out of Friday's game.
Speaker 7 (26:54):
I mean, if you go back and you look at.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
The normal four, I guess you could save right now
as it stands LaMelo All, Nick Smith Junior, Miles Bridges
moves to the abatte. When those four are out on
the floor together, Miles is able to thrive. I would
love to go in and look at their four man
plus minus. I didn't get a chance to do that
before this segment, but I'm gonna have to take a
deep dive into that and see how often they play together,
which probably isn't a lot because of all the injuries
and absences, But I want to see what their numbers
(27:17):
look like, and I want to see what their efficiency
looks like as well. And Miles is a great byproduct
of having pieces around him and having the ability to flourish.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
No question about it, Miles has been tremendous all season long,
and his game is just as strong in terms of
the counting stats, but far, far, far more efficient the
more high quality players you have around him, and especially
LaMelo taking so much of that ball handling responsibility off
of his plate. That's huge. I'm gonna go with Nick
(27:47):
Smith Junior as my pick for a player to watch.
He has been spectacular as the now starting two guard
for this team. It is not an easy job filling
in for Brandon Miller. B Mill has had an extending
start to his career. All Rookie team selection, first Team
(28:08):
All Rookie last season, qualified for the Rising Stars again
this season. He'll be in the Bay Area. Unfortunately, can't play,
of course, due to the torn ligament in his right
wrist that had to be repaired. Twenty one points per
game for him in his second season. Nick Smith Junior
is hitting his stride and only one of the last
four games has included LaMelo ball. But you know what,
he's averaging points per game wise in his last four games,
(28:30):
twenty one points per game. He's averaging the same thing
Brandon Miller did. I want to be clear about this,
I am not saying that we found the replacement. No,
this is another weapon to add in here. No, No,
this is another weapon to add in in addition to
Brandon Miller. But this is a young player, Nick Smith Junior,
who's starting to come into his own. He's only twenty
(28:51):
years old. This is a young young guy who's finding confidence.
His last four games twenty one points a night, fifty
three percent from three. That's at times without LaMelo. That's
also in this last game with LaMelo. So I want
to see him put another one on top of it.
And the new wrinkle for this one, it's not over
the entirety of his time as a starter, but it
is for the course of this streak of games where
(29:12):
he's had fifteen or twenty or more points, he's going
to have to do it on the road in a
more hostile environment. So that'll be a new wrinkle here
for this stretch of play. But I'm looking forward to
seeing how Nick Smith Junior handles this task at hand.
All Right, that's going to do it for this episode
of the HC Jam. Pat congrats to the Hornets for
a thrilling win to wrap up the home stand as
(29:33):
well as all home games for the month of February.
A reminder we are coming back eventually to Spectrum Center.
It's just going to be a while. You can join
us for the month of March and portions of April,
as well Charlotte's next home game against the Washington Wizards
on Saturday, March. The first tickets for that one, as
well as the games after that, March third of Monday
(29:55):
against the Golden State Warriors and the fifth a Wednesday
against the Minnesota Timberwolves one and all. They're available at
Hornets dot com. Rob Longo always good to talk to you,
my friend. I'll see it in March.
Speaker 6 (30:05):
No, no, no, yes, I I couldn't resist.
Speaker 7 (30:11):
I to get that in one more time. Set me
up perfect from that.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I don't know that I did. I don't think the
answer was yes, so we could get that that WWE guy.
Speaker 7 (30:20):
Yes, yes, there you go. I like that.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
We'll miss your buddy. Some late nights ahead for you,
but enjoy the break when it comes here, and we'll
talk to you Sunday from the Motor City.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Sounds good and there's a lot of stuff going on
on Sunday. I know you said it on the pregame show.
I'm gonna get you here. Who you got I'm going
to Eagles.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I'm going I think they're the better team. I love
Andy Reid. I'm so happy for him getting his flowers
as one of the great coaches in the game. But
I think the Eagles are the better team. I think
Saquon Barkley wins it for Philly.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
It pains me to root for a Philadelphia team, That's
all I'm gonna say.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Does that mean you.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Are I kind of don't have a choice? You do,
There's two, There's always a choice. I yes, what are
you rooting for? We got I'm rooting for the.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Eagles and you're picking all right? There you go. You
heard it here first, Roblongo picks the Eagles, all right.
Speaker 7 (31:05):
Strew up in my mouth a little bit.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Thank you all for tuning in for Roblongo. I'm Sam
Farber saying it's been a pleasure, in a privilege having
you along. We'll talk to you tomorrow right here on
the Hornets Podcast.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Thank you for listening to The Hornets Podcast, brought to
you by Santa, the official i ear nosen throad Care
provider of the Charlotte Hornets. For more coverage, visit Hornets
dot com.
Hosts And Creators
Sam Farber
Rob Longo
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