April 2, 2025 • 23 mins
Eric Collins, the TV broadcaster of the Hornets on FanDuel Sports Network, stops by to preview Charlotte's showdown against Indiana with Sam Farber. The two also discuss what they've seen from some of the younger players this season and what to expect from them in the future.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Hornets Hoodcast, 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, quotes, and daily buzz around
your favorite NBA team. I'm Sam Farber and it is
a pleasure and a privilege have you with us here
once again on the Hornet's iode Cast, brought to you
by Sena Charlotte I hear Nos and Throat Associates, the
official I ear nos and throat Care provider of the
Charlotte Hornets.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
It's a game to edition.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Hornets on the road again, visiting the Indiana the Indiana
Pacers Tonight Pacers forty four and thirty one, solidly in
the top six, it seems for sure in the Eastern
Conferencer right now, holding home court advantage if the playoffs
were to begin tomorrow. The Hornets as of now, obviously
as they have been for a long time, eliminated from
(00:52):
postseason contention, but coming off a win over the Utah Jazz,
We're gonna preview tonight's game, talk about some of the
favorite storylines that we're watching for here on the remaining
days of the season, and do so with an expert
of all things the team and NBA, our good friend,
the television voice of the Charlotte Hornets, Eric Collins, with
us once again.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Eric, thanks so much for joining me. Hey, my pleasure.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Yeah, it's obviously disappointing the Hornets have been eliminated, but
still a whole bunch of things to look out for
and kind of excited to see how the last seven
games roll out.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
When we last did this on the podcast, because we
talked basically every day, I think I talked to you
as much or more than my wife. When we last
talked about it was very forward looking and it was
very early in the season. Obviously the team at the
time was dealing with some injuries, but we were hopeful
we would get a longer stretch of healthy Hornets. Sadly
that did not come to pass. But as I mentioned before,
(01:44):
there is always something to watch for, and I feel
like you and I, with both having some minor league
background and always digging deep into the stats and record books,
can find something in any and every game that really
is gonna get us excited and should get the fans
excited as well. So I'm curious what's at the top
of your list here in these waning days of the
twenty four to twenty five season that you're watching for,
(02:07):
hoping for to see as part of these Hornets games.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
Okay, well, first off, just backtrack. I'm still super high
on Brandon Miller. The fact that he hadn't been able
to finish the season just a gut punch, just a
wonderful player. I am all in on Brandon Miller, and
I think the fact that he's missed so much the
second half of the season massive reason why the Hornets
probably don't have the record that everyone thought that they
might have. That being said, our most recent first round pick,
(02:30):
Tijon Salon. I love the fact that he's getting opportunity
to play meaningful minutes now. And he's a different player
if you look closely. Yeah, you don't even have to
look that closely. He is a different player than he
was in October, radically different than November and December. He
came back from Greensboro a couple of months ago and
was an improving player. He went back down to Greensborough
and I remember kind of raising an eyebrowns, like really,
(02:51):
and then he came back and he's playing with even
more energy and even more purpose, and his body is
moving better in the ways that he wants it to.
So I think for seven games, I'm super excited to
see Tijon play. I think we all knew he wasn't
going to be totally a finished product this season, but
I like the way that the Hornets have handled him.
I do like the fact that he got an opportunity
early in the season to kind of see where he was.
(03:13):
He got an opportunity to take a breath with the swarm,
he got a chance to come back and test himself again.
He took another breath, and now I think he's playing
the best basketball. The game he had against the Utah Jazz,
he was fantastic. He was the difference maker when he
was making those shots, when he was getting in passing lanes,
when he was playing with that energy and joy. So
to see him play for seven consecutive games, I think
(03:35):
is going to be meaningful to me and most Hornets fans.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
I completely agree, and I think we're seeing some growth
because early in the season, much like late in the season,
if he had something go right, things would in a
good way, snowball for him in the right direction. If
he made a shot early, he was firing up the
next couple. And he has the ability to get hot
and stay hot like a lot of guys do in
the NBA. But we're seeing different wrinkles now. He's able
(03:59):
to finished through contact at this point a little bit better,
not just try and elude it at every turn when
he's driving the lane. And these are great positive signs
and another reason why even though we all I think
conceptually understand when these guys are drafted at eighteen nineteen
years old, that it's going to be a process, and
then lo and behold, two months later, the you know,
(04:21):
social media or whatever is saying, oh, why why aren't
they done yet? The oven timer went off? These guys
should be ready. The reality is it takes a little
more time. But we're seeing that growth here right now
from t John Salon.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
I like the fact that it could have been really
easy for him to mentally or emotionally get down and
I never saw that. You know, I walk by the
weight room and he's in there.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
He's committed. I see him with the assistant coaches. Going
over film. I see him getting all his shots up.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
I see his joy in the sidelines when he's interacting
with the guys. I see the way that they react
to him. It means something to me. It's very easy.
You know, it's a competitive world, and everyone knows where
he was picked, and it'd be very easy to say, ah,
you're the when we've only got nineteen wins. But no
one's pointing fingers. And he hasn't taken that responsibility upon himself.
He said, hey, you know it happened. My job is
to get better every single game, and we've seen that,
(05:09):
and that's what makes me really encouraged. You know, he
could have been it could have been a snowball, and
the snowball has melted, and right now it seems to
be somehow rising up the ground.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And there is also that just natural ability that he has.
They don't make people six eight two o five at
the age of nineteen who have his ability to go
up and get rebounds that not everyone in the NBA
can just go get naturally. Even though he's far from
a finished product as a shooter, knocking down three straight
threes in the NBA doesn't happen for everyone.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
He clearly has those abilities.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
So he's building on the strengths he already has, and
I'm very confident he'll take a big leap in the
off season.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Yeah, I think so. I think this means something to him.
I think it comes from a basketball family. He's got
a sister whose plays for the French national team, and
it's kind of like the family business.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Like you said, it's a nice piece of clay, you know,
mold you look for that body.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Man.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
That body has worked in the NBA since nineteen forty seven.
So I think the future is bright. You know, I've
seen enough to say, you know, this kid does have
a chance to be really fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Dejon Salon someone we're very excited about. What else will
we be looking at here in these waning days of
the twenty four to twenty five season. We'll get into
that with Eric Collins, the television voice of the Charlotte Hornets,
after this quick break here on the Hornets Podcast, Sam
Farbar Eric Collins, He's gonna make me say it, the
voice is of the Charlotte Hornets. I think Eric's got it.
(06:32):
But you know, I'm happy to be included along a.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Worker, the PA guy. Come on, man, there's three of
us hold microphones.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
That's true, That's very true. We gotta get Shanny. We
can have a three man podcast booth. That would be fun.
I will have to get him on the cast at
some point here in this offseason. But we're looking ahead
here at these final seven games. And I said the onset.
I mean, I remember being in minor league baseball and
pouring over stats right up until game time, looking for streaks,
looking for insane records of some small, rinking, dank league
(06:59):
that I was in, and no one really cares whether
or not someone gets it or not, but it's important
to me in the moment. Now we're here in the NBA,
where everything is magnified so much more, guys who are
chasing history. They're, you know, rubbing elbows with the gods
of the game. And we have a chance to seek
out those numbers. And there's nothing that gives me more
joy pregame than having a number in my head, running
(07:22):
it by you and figuring out, oh, Eric.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Didn't have that one. We had one.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Just the other day, the Hornets sweat the Utah Jazz.
It was the first time in thirty years and I
don't know why I went down the rabbit hole, but
I was like, I wonder who the starting lineup was?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Do you remember it? Now?
Speaker 4 (07:35):
It was Muggsy, It was Alonzo Morning, it was Larry Johnson.
Oh there's one red Herring. Who is the red Herring?
I don't remember who the two Scott.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Burrell, Scott Brell. Yes, and you're sit next to the
other one and no telling about the bench. Oh that's right,
it was Dull off the bench. So sorry, it's Muggsy.
Oh my gosh, now I'm blanking on.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Who the other? It was a good podcast.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
In any case, these are the kinds of you know,
crazy this guys as we have so I can get
five seconds of airtime in the middle of a broadcast
and be able to you know, shoehorn it in there.
I'll look it up while you answer this next question.
But in any case, there are all these numbers in
the game that we focus on, and to be fair
with the Hornets, the way the season's gone, some of
(08:17):
like the season long records, those ones are not really
at play. But there are some career marks that are
at play, and one in particular for me that I'm
watching and I think you were attuned to earlier as well.
Is Taj Gibson's pursuit of a thousand career games. He
is a basketball lifer. I went to USC for grad school.
He was there for undergrad We were there at the
same time. I remember seeing him. I am indeed, so
(08:40):
it's fun to be able to witness this, And clearly
it seems important to his teammates the organization because there
appears at least to be a little bit of a
push to get him across that threshold.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Yeah, I saw that interesting story with though about one
thousand games. I remember a couple of years ago there
was some form of horn on its reunion and Glenn
Rice is in town, and Glenn is a prince. I
actually remember when he was a player. I frequently have
to go into the Hornet's locker room or the heat
locker room, whoever he was playing for at the time
and conduct interviews.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
And I could always go to him.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
He used to go to I always was very interested
in engaging with his responses. But he was in town,
and of course he came up to Dell and gave
him a big bear hug, and they wanted to talk
about glory days, and I was so happy to kind
of be a fly on the wall. But I'm sitting
there talking to him, and I'd done my research because
we were going to talk about Glenn Rice at the
course of the game, and I noticed that Glenn had
played exactly one thousand games, not one thousand and one,
(09:36):
not nine hundred and ninety nine. He played exactly one
thousand games. And so my mind was like, who stops
at one thousand? There clearly was like a Todge Gibson thing.
Let's get him into the finish line. Let's get him
to one thousand games and wave goodbye. You've had a
great career. So I said, hey, Glenn, just curious, man,
you finished with exactly one thousand games. What was the
story behind that? Because what are you talking about? And
I said, you played a thousand games, because I had
(09:57):
no idea. I didn't know if I played seven hundred
games or twelve hundred games. So he just happened, just
bizarrely to finish with exactly that round number of one
thousand played NBA games, yet he did not know it.
And now we're focused on todde Gibbs, and it does
mean something to Taj because I think Tadze is a
different type of guy. You know, Taj has not been
a perennial All Star, He's not in the league in
any major category, but he has been an NBA stalwart
(10:20):
that will remember fifty years from now because of his availability,
his longevity, his toughness, and the content of his character.
So that's my one thousand game story.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
I like it, and it's rarefied air.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I was looking at up the other day. He would
be the one hundred and fifty second player in NBA
history to reach a thousand career games. It just doesn't
happen all that often. And given the way the game
is played now and the durability factor, and then how
quickly guys are turned through the NBA, it seems less
and less likely guys are going to be attacking that number. Obviously,
(10:50):
there's the Lebrons, the Kds, the Chris Paul's the world.
There are always going to be those kinds of guys.
But an NBA lifer like Taj Gibbson, someone who, as
you mentioned, never made an All Star Our game, was
an All Rookie team member, has been a key cog
of some really good teams.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
That's harder to do, and.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Probably he's a really good example here on an overall
young core for the Charlotte Hornet, someone like t Jhan
Salon or Nick Smith Junior can look at Taj and say,
I'm obviously aspiring to when they be an All Star,
be the best that I can possibly be. But to
be a really good NBA player is really, really hard
to do. Here's an example of someone who has spent
(11:27):
almost two decades doing so.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
And another wrinkle two is Taj is a fantastic example
of what it's like to be an adult in the NBA.
You know, I watched this guy and he goes after
it in his pregame warm ups. He knows that people
are watching. He'll engage those people who are watching, and
when it's all said and done, he'll either take off
a rest band or hand it to someone, or he'll
sign as many autographs as people want. And I think
(11:49):
that just by osmosis, you know, some of the younger
Hornets players are seeing that as Oh, okay, that's the
way a pro is supposed to act. And I really
appreciate that about Toash, I love the fact that he's available.
I love the fact that he grabs, tough rebounds that
he once averaged sixteen points tonight.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
But I like the fact that he's just a good guy.
You know, a guy you.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Want on your team, a guy you want to go
out to dinner with. You know, he's a good guy
you want the city of Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Man. I'm a big Todd Gibson guy.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
As am. I all always good to have another usc
Trojan round two.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Oh God, you always got to take it the extra
layer fight on. I love it.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
We got him just to bring in full circles. Starting
lineup from the Hornets Utah Jazz the last time the
Hornets swept in nineteen ninety five. By the way, pretty
good lineup on the other side, Carl Malone, John Stockton,
Jeff Hornseck, David Benoit, and James Donaldson. Pretty good quintet
there playing for the Jazz. But for the Hornets it
was Larry Johnson, Muggsy Bogues, Alonso, Morning, Scott bro the woman.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
We forgot Hersey Hawkins, oh the Hawk from Westinghouse High School.
Oh Man, Herssey could play big fan too. I'm a
big Hersey Hawkins guy. Played in high school in the
same team with Eddie Johnson, Eddie Johnson, the commentator now
man as a good shooting team right there.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
We'll see what kind of history is made tonight, the
Hornets taking on the Indiana Pacers. Our game preview coming
up next here on the Hornets, I've cast Sam farbar
Era Collins here with you on the HHC the Hornets
tipe cast, brought to you by Cena. Just seven games
left here on the twenty four twenty five regular season.
(13:17):
Tonight is game seventy five. I guess that's what it means.
Seventy five games in the books so far. Actually this
is the seventy sixth game, I apologize, So seventy sixth
game coming up tonight. There are three home games still remaining.
Charlot will be back home on Friday, Sunday a matinee
against the Chicago Bulls, and then wrap things up on
Tuesday against Memphis. So very few opportunities for fans still
(13:40):
in this season and in this configuration of spectrum centers.
The reimagining is going to happen again, and I can
guarantee you you're gonna miss the games when they're gone.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
How how long does it take you after the.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Season ends for you to get the itch saying I
wish I was going to the hive again right now.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
Oh man, Well, when the first the season first ends,
it's just a gut punch knowing that they're there is
sixteen other teams that are continuing, you know, and sixteen
other you know, journeys that are still waiting to happen,
and we're not included.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
So that's the disappointing part.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
So for the first two weeks of the first round,
I think the Hornet should be there, and it's just
it's a gut punch. But then after that, you know,
once we kind of get to the multiple levels of
the playoffs and like, okay, well the Hornet's maybe maybe
we're not going to get to the Eastern Conference finals
this year, So then I can kind of let my
guard down. But by the middle of May, definitely, by
the first of June, I'm.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Likele to do this again. You know, I'm just getting bored.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Man.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
How many miles can I ride in the peloton? You know?
How many times can I go to the range and
hit golf balls? You know? How many times can I
go meet a buddy out for a beer?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
You know?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
I just I love.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Being at the arena and not being in the arena,
it's just a gut punch in the summers.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
See, I'm the same way I thought that I was
doing well because I thought, you know, I love my job.
I love what I get to do watching Hornets games
and calling Hornets games for all great fans on the radio.
But I also love being a dad, and so there's
a big part of me that when the season ends,
it just it's nice to take a week. And then
by the time that first playoff series changes home court advantage,
(14:58):
that's usually when I'm starting to locked back in and
be like, all right, what but that's nowhere near as
long as you lasted. So maybe I'm not as good
a dad as I thought I was.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Eric, Well, my kids are older, and actually no one
really wants me to run the house much anymore, so
I have the house all to myself.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
So it's kind of an odd situation.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Fair enough, all right, Hornets are going to be in
the house of the Indiana Pacers gamebridge Field House for
this one tonight. Pacers forty four and thirty one on
the season, they are seemingly cruising towards home court advantage.
They still have a little bit of work to do.
Only a couple of games edge over the Detroit Pistons
and another game and a half or so over Milwaukee,
(15:34):
so they've got something more to play for right now.
Charlotte is coming off a win over Utah, So those
are some of the factors going into tonight's game. We
need players to watch for both teams, as well as
stat to watch other than points, because that's cheating. Whoever
scores the most points wins the game. Where do you
want to start?
Speaker 4 (15:48):
I'm going to do player to watch and I just
think I'm going to go tree chops because I'm not
going to try and look for something that's not there.
One of my favorite players to watch is Tyre's Halliburton.
I just think he's fantastic. I love his inside out game.
We saw him early in the year and I don't
think he was playing at the level that I normally
expect him to play at, but he's gotten there and
I just think he's.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Such a fun guy to watch.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
You know, his shot is not classic, but he shoots
it from different spots in the floor. He shoots it
higher than most anyone in the league. He plays with
this joy and this smile I'm a big Tyrius Seliburton guy,
so I'm looking forward watching him play excellent.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
I'm gonna go I think off the bench or a
little bit in the darkest to who's in who's out
for this one as of the recording of this podcast,
but Obi Toppins a guy that's always kind of fascinated
me back to his time in New York and even
prior to that, when he was playing at Dayton, someone
who just he wasn't on anyone's radar at sixteen years old,
and then emerged from Dayton and you know, became this
(16:45):
high flyer that everyone was infatuated with. Winter New York
had some success, but not as much as he's found
here with the Pacers, and if they're going to go
far in the postseason, I think he plays a bigger
role than some people might suspect. Now they've already made
a sizeable run in the postseason, so this would not
be entirely uncharted waters here for the Indiana Pacers. But
(17:06):
Obi Toppin, he's growing his game. He's certainly not you
know Blake Griffin back in the day, the former number
one pick. But Blake I remember covering him when I
was in LA and he was with the Clippers, was
known as this superstar dunker, great athlete, could jump over everyone,
and worked really hard to expand his game and make
himself a far more dynamic player than he was when
he ended the league. Maybe we're starting to see a
(17:27):
little bit of that with Obie is he's stretched his
game a little bit. But just over all, the fun
part of watching someone try and jump over a seven
foot human, which is something he tries to do every
now and again, that's a lot of fun too. Up next,
do you want to do stat to watch or horne
it to watch?
Speaker 4 (17:41):
I'm gonna do hornet to watch, and it's not too
much of a surprise. I like watching Mark Williams play
on both ends of the floor. But one of the
reasons I want to watch him play is because he
is on a free throw heater. I don't have the
number in front of me, but it was fourteen at
some point in the game against Utah, so I think
it's now fifteen or sixteen of I'll have it by
the time tip starts.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
But I'm a big fan of.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Free throw streaks, particularly when you're seven feet one inches tall.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
So I said the other night I think the.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
Longest tornet has the longest free throw streak currently cooking.
So that's my dream is for Mark to play a
well rounded game both ends of the floor and just
get fouled the entire game and shoot fifteen free throws
and run a streak up to thirty plus.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
That's my stat to watch and player to watch.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
These are the kind of numbers I was looking for
last sevent you could have gone right to that one.
He also got very close to extending his streak of
consecutive made field goals. The only missed one last game.
He's missed one in the last two games. He's gone
seventeen for eighteen.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Yeah, but the one miss kind of messed him up
because I think it was at eleven in a row.
He holds the franchise record eighteen in a row that
he did and was it two years ago. But yeah,
we were monitoring that at one point he had made
eleven consecutive shots from the field and fourteen consecutive free throws.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Just funky stuff. So looking for more of the same
from Mark.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Very good stuff. Another stat to watch her in the
coming days because I charted everything because I'm insane. Is
Miles Bridges has a chance moving to the top five
in career rebounds for the Charlotte Hornets, going after our
old friend Biz mack Biambo. We just saw a couple
of weeks ago in San Antonio. Biz currently fifth in
franchise history.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Down a couple of notches. Yeah no, yeah, come on, Miles,
let's get that done. We won't mention Biz for a while.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
He's a couple games away. I think, who knows, maybe
he gets there tonight. My player to watch, I'm gonna
go with Nick Smith Junior. He's someone who a little
bit like you were talking about before with t Jon Salon.
Obviously very very different player, very very different skill set,
but someone who came into the league at nineteen, very talented,
has a great skill set, was the National high school
Player of the Year.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
A little bit of a tough.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Time injury wise in his one year in college, but
I've seen a big jump from last season to this
season and early this season to this point. He's someone
who seems to be a pretty diligent worker. His three
point percentage off the benches in the vicinity of where
it was overall last season. He's someone who's clearly got
(19:57):
some NBA gifts, and it's just a matter of continuing
to refine his game, grow his game fine where he
can fit in best when all the collective pieces are together.
But I think in somewhat similar fashion to Tjon, he's
a young player who's getting extra opportunities now. Some of
it's due to injuries and it has been the case
for quite some time, but closing games now, that's something
(20:18):
he wasn't necessarily asked to do as much earlier in
the season. So I'm looking forward to see how he fares,
perhaps going one on one at times with Tyre's Halliburton.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
And maybe he has to go against TJ McConnell, who's
one of my favorite players, just because he plays the
exact same way every single game, and he has every
single year he's been in the NBA. He is the
consummate NBA point guard and if you can do work
against him without him getting under your skin, you know
you are a pro as well. If Nick Smith and
(20:47):
TJ McConnell are matched up, it will be a great
learning experience for Nick.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
So looking forward to that matchup.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Last but not least a stat to watch. Oh goodness,
can I just go as small one like three. That
would be the third consecutive win for the Hornets against
the Pacers when they win, like I would love to
sweep the Pacers. We just swept the Utah Jazz and
that has me beaming for the last forty eight hours.
I want to sweep the Pacers. Totally think it's possible.
Beaten twice, already already won in this building. You know,
(21:13):
let's get her done.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
I love it. We'll go with that one. I'll go
for one.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
That's maybe a little more of a reason why, and
we're looking for growth game to game. Turnovers were a
big issue last game against Utah is probably why the
Jazz stayed in the game, not just the volume of turnovers,
but how frequently they turned into live ball runouts the
other direction and just easy baskets off turnovers. So just
looking for that improvement game to game.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
It can be.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Difficult because there's so much fluctuation in the lineup and
who's in who's out from game to game. That's got
to throw off chemistry from time to time. But overall,
just looking to see some improvement, including against an Indiana
team that likes to turn up the tempo and has
a general in a positive way. Pest in TJ McConnell,
who is known to take the ball away more so
than most point guards.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
I'm with you on that.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
Yeah, I just Charles Lee says it all the time.
It's you know, there's nothing really super tangible about what
actually has to happen in terms of boxes that need
to be checked, but you'd just like to see improvement
across the board. And yeah, handling the ball better that
the turnovers against Utah that's just gonna be a big
bug boo, so to cut that down.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
I'm all in, Eric, It's always fun to do this
with you.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I get the pleasure and privilege you're telling you every
single game day. I will miss you while you're on
your peloton marathon over the course of the summer and
can't wait for the twenty five to twenty six campaign
to roll around for us to get to sit down
do this again.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Thank you for having me. It's been a joy. That's
Eric Collins.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Thanks as well to our producer Rob Longo for putting
this podcast together. Most of all to all of you
for tuning, and tomorrow we'll have a game recap edition
of the HC. Till then, for Eric and Rob. I'm
Sam Farber saying it's been a pleasure and a privilege
having you along. We'll talk to you next time. Right here,
I'm the Hornets Hoodcast.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Thank you for listening to The Hornets Podcast, brought to
you by Santa, the official Ie ear nosen throad care
provider of the Charlotte Hornets. For more coverage, visit Hornets
dot com.
Welcome to the Hornets Hoodcast, 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, quotes, and daily buzz around
your favorite NBA team. I'm Sam Farber and it is
a pleasure and a privilege have you with us here
once again on the Hornet's iode Cast, brought to you
by Sena Charlotte I hear Nos and Throat Associates, the
official I ear nos and throat Care provider of the
Charlotte Hornets.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
It's a game to edition.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Hornets on the road again, visiting the Indiana the Indiana
Pacers Tonight Pacers forty four and thirty one, solidly in
the top six, it seems for sure in the Eastern
Conferencer right now, holding home court advantage if the playoffs
were to begin tomorrow. The Hornets as of now, obviously
as they have been for a long time, eliminated from
(00:52):
postseason contention, but coming off a win over the Utah Jazz,
We're gonna preview tonight's game, talk about some of the
favorite storylines that we're watching for here on the remaining
days of the season, and do so with an expert
of all things the team and NBA, our good friend,
the television voice of the Charlotte Hornets, Eric Collins, with
us once again.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Eric, thanks so much for joining me. Hey, my pleasure.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Yeah, it's obviously disappointing the Hornets have been eliminated, but
still a whole bunch of things to look out for
and kind of excited to see how the last seven
games roll out.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
When we last did this on the podcast, because we
talked basically every day, I think I talked to you
as much or more than my wife. When we last
talked about it was very forward looking and it was
very early in the season. Obviously the team at the
time was dealing with some injuries, but we were hopeful
we would get a longer stretch of healthy Hornets. Sadly
that did not come to pass. But as I mentioned before,
(01:44):
there is always something to watch for, and I feel
like you and I, with both having some minor league
background and always digging deep into the stats and record books,
can find something in any and every game that really
is gonna get us excited and should get the fans
excited as well. So I'm curious what's at the top
of your list here in these waning days of the
twenty four to twenty five season that you're watching for,
(02:07):
hoping for to see as part of these Hornets games.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
Okay, well, first off, just backtrack. I'm still super high
on Brandon Miller. The fact that he hadn't been able
to finish the season just a gut punch, just a
wonderful player. I am all in on Brandon Miller, and
I think the fact that he's missed so much the
second half of the season massive reason why the Hornets
probably don't have the record that everyone thought that they
might have. That being said, our most recent first round pick,
(02:30):
Tijon Salon. I love the fact that he's getting opportunity
to play meaningful minutes now. And he's a different player
if you look closely. Yeah, you don't even have to
look that closely. He is a different player than he
was in October, radically different than November and December. He
came back from Greensboro a couple of months ago and
was an improving player. He went back down to Greensborough
and I remember kind of raising an eyebrowns, like really,
(02:51):
and then he came back and he's playing with even
more energy and even more purpose, and his body is
moving better in the ways that he wants it to.
So I think for seven games, I'm super excited to
see Tijon play. I think we all knew he wasn't
going to be totally a finished product this season, but
I like the way that the Hornets have handled him.
I do like the fact that he got an opportunity
early in the season to kind of see where he was.
(03:13):
He got an opportunity to take a breath with the swarm,
he got a chance to come back and test himself again.
He took another breath, and now I think he's playing
the best basketball. The game he had against the Utah Jazz,
he was fantastic. He was the difference maker when he
was making those shots, when he was getting in passing lanes,
when he was playing with that energy and joy. So
to see him play for seven consecutive games, I think
(03:35):
is going to be meaningful to me and most Hornets fans.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
I completely agree, and I think we're seeing some growth
because early in the season, much like late in the season,
if he had something go right, things would in a
good way, snowball for him in the right direction. If
he made a shot early, he was firing up the
next couple. And he has the ability to get hot
and stay hot like a lot of guys do in
the NBA. But we're seeing different wrinkles now. He's able
(03:59):
to finished through contact at this point a little bit better,
not just try and elude it at every turn when
he's driving the lane. And these are great positive signs
and another reason why even though we all I think
conceptually understand when these guys are drafted at eighteen nineteen
years old, that it's going to be a process, and
then lo and behold, two months later, the you know,
(04:21):
social media or whatever is saying, oh, why why aren't
they done yet? The oven timer went off? These guys
should be ready. The reality is it takes a little
more time. But we're seeing that growth here right now
from t John Salon.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
I like the fact that it could have been really
easy for him to mentally or emotionally get down and
I never saw that. You know, I walk by the
weight room and he's in there.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
He's committed. I see him with the assistant coaches. Going
over film. I see him getting all his shots up.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
I see his joy in the sidelines when he's interacting
with the guys. I see the way that they react
to him. It means something to me. It's very easy.
You know, it's a competitive world, and everyone knows where
he was picked, and it'd be very easy to say, ah,
you're the when we've only got nineteen wins. But no
one's pointing fingers. And he hasn't taken that responsibility upon himself.
He said, hey, you know it happened. My job is
to get better every single game, and we've seen that,
(05:09):
and that's what makes me really encouraged. You know, he
could have been it could have been a snowball, and
the snowball has melted, and right now it seems to
be somehow rising up the ground.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And there is also that just natural ability that he has.
They don't make people six eight two o five at
the age of nineteen who have his ability to go
up and get rebounds that not everyone in the NBA
can just go get naturally. Even though he's far from
a finished product as a shooter, knocking down three straight
threes in the NBA doesn't happen for everyone.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
He clearly has those abilities.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
So he's building on the strengths he already has, and
I'm very confident he'll take a big leap in the
off season.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Yeah, I think so. I think this means something to him.
I think it comes from a basketball family. He's got
a sister whose plays for the French national team, and
it's kind of like the family business.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Like you said, it's a nice piece of clay, you know,
mold you look for that body.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Man.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
That body has worked in the NBA since nineteen forty seven.
So I think the future is bright. You know, I've
seen enough to say, you know, this kid does have
a chance to be really fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Dejon Salon someone we're very excited about. What else will
we be looking at here in these waning days of
the twenty four to twenty five season. We'll get into
that with Eric Collins, the television voice of the Charlotte Hornets,
after this quick break here on the Hornets Podcast, Sam
Farbar Eric Collins, He's gonna make me say it, the
voice is of the Charlotte Hornets. I think Eric's got it.
(06:32):
But you know, I'm happy to be included along a.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Worker, the PA guy. Come on, man, there's three of
us hold microphones.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
That's true, That's very true. We gotta get Shanny. We
can have a three man podcast booth. That would be fun.
I will have to get him on the cast at
some point here in this offseason. But we're looking ahead
here at these final seven games. And I said the onset.
I mean, I remember being in minor league baseball and
pouring over stats right up until game time, looking for streaks,
looking for insane records of some small, rinking, dank league
(06:59):
that I was in, and no one really cares whether
or not someone gets it or not, but it's important
to me in the moment. Now we're here in the NBA,
where everything is magnified so much more, guys who are
chasing history. They're, you know, rubbing elbows with the gods
of the game. And we have a chance to seek
out those numbers. And there's nothing that gives me more
joy pregame than having a number in my head, running
(07:22):
it by you and figuring out, oh, Eric.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Didn't have that one. We had one.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Just the other day, the Hornets sweat the Utah Jazz.
It was the first time in thirty years and I
don't know why I went down the rabbit hole, but
I was like, I wonder who the starting lineup was?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Do you remember it? Now?
Speaker 4 (07:35):
It was Muggsy, It was Alonzo Morning, it was Larry Johnson.
Oh there's one red Herring. Who is the red Herring?
I don't remember who the two Scott.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Burrell, Scott Brell. Yes, and you're sit next to the
other one and no telling about the bench. Oh that's right,
it was Dull off the bench. So sorry, it's Muggsy.
Oh my gosh, now I'm blanking on.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Who the other? It was a good podcast.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
In any case, these are the kinds of you know,
crazy this guys as we have so I can get
five seconds of airtime in the middle of a broadcast
and be able to you know, shoehorn it in there.
I'll look it up while you answer this next question.
But in any case, there are all these numbers in
the game that we focus on, and to be fair
with the Hornets, the way the season's gone, some of
(08:17):
like the season long records, those ones are not really
at play. But there are some career marks that are
at play, and one in particular for me that I'm
watching and I think you were attuned to earlier as well.
Is Taj Gibson's pursuit of a thousand career games. He
is a basketball lifer. I went to USC for grad school.
He was there for undergrad We were there at the
same time. I remember seeing him. I am indeed, so
(08:40):
it's fun to be able to witness this, And clearly
it seems important to his teammates the organization because there
appears at least to be a little bit of a
push to get him across that threshold.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Yeah, I saw that interesting story with though about one
thousand games. I remember a couple of years ago there
was some form of horn on its reunion and Glenn
Rice is in town, and Glenn is a prince. I
actually remember when he was a player. I frequently have
to go into the Hornet's locker room or the heat
locker room, whoever he was playing for at the time
and conduct interviews.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
And I could always go to him.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
He used to go to I always was very interested
in engaging with his responses. But he was in town,
and of course he came up to Dell and gave
him a big bear hug, and they wanted to talk
about glory days, and I was so happy to kind
of be a fly on the wall. But I'm sitting
there talking to him, and I'd done my research because
we were going to talk about Glenn Rice at the
course of the game, and I noticed that Glenn had
played exactly one thousand games, not one thousand and one,
(09:36):
not nine hundred and ninety nine. He played exactly one
thousand games. And so my mind was like, who stops
at one thousand? There clearly was like a Todge Gibson thing.
Let's get him into the finish line. Let's get him
to one thousand games and wave goodbye. You've had a
great career. So I said, hey, Glenn, just curious, man,
you finished with exactly one thousand games. What was the
story behind that? Because what are you talking about? And
I said, you played a thousand games, because I had
(09:57):
no idea. I didn't know if I played seven hundred
games or twelve hundred games. So he just happened, just
bizarrely to finish with exactly that round number of one
thousand played NBA games, yet he did not know it.
And now we're focused on todde Gibbs, and it does
mean something to Taj because I think Tadze is a
different type of guy. You know, Taj has not been
a perennial All Star, He's not in the league in
any major category, but he has been an NBA stalwart
(10:20):
that will remember fifty years from now because of his availability,
his longevity, his toughness, and the content of his character.
So that's my one thousand game story.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
I like it, and it's rarefied air.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I was looking at up the other day. He would
be the one hundred and fifty second player in NBA
history to reach a thousand career games. It just doesn't
happen all that often. And given the way the game
is played now and the durability factor, and then how
quickly guys are turned through the NBA, it seems less
and less likely guys are going to be attacking that number. Obviously,
(10:50):
there's the Lebrons, the Kds, the Chris Paul's the world.
There are always going to be those kinds of guys.
But an NBA lifer like Taj Gibbson, someone who, as
you mentioned, never made an All Star Our game, was
an All Rookie team member, has been a key cog
of some really good teams.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
That's harder to do, and.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Probably he's a really good example here on an overall
young core for the Charlotte Hornet, someone like t Jhan
Salon or Nick Smith Junior can look at Taj and say,
I'm obviously aspiring to when they be an All Star,
be the best that I can possibly be. But to
be a really good NBA player is really, really hard
to do. Here's an example of someone who has spent
(11:27):
almost two decades doing so.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
And another wrinkle two is Taj is a fantastic example
of what it's like to be an adult in the NBA.
You know, I watched this guy and he goes after
it in his pregame warm ups. He knows that people
are watching. He'll engage those people who are watching, and
when it's all said and done, he'll either take off
a rest band or hand it to someone, or he'll
sign as many autographs as people want. And I think
(11:49):
that just by osmosis, you know, some of the younger
Hornets players are seeing that as Oh, okay, that's the
way a pro is supposed to act. And I really
appreciate that about Toash, I love the fact that he's available.
I love the fact that he grabs, tough rebounds that
he once averaged sixteen points tonight.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
But I like the fact that he's just a good guy.
You know, a guy you.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Want on your team, a guy you want to go
out to dinner with. You know, he's a good guy
you want the city of Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Man. I'm a big Todd Gibson guy.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
As am. I all always good to have another usc
Trojan round two.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Oh God, you always got to take it the extra
layer fight on. I love it.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
We got him just to bring in full circles. Starting
lineup from the Hornets Utah Jazz the last time the
Hornets swept in nineteen ninety five. By the way, pretty
good lineup on the other side, Carl Malone, John Stockton,
Jeff Hornseck, David Benoit, and James Donaldson. Pretty good quintet
there playing for the Jazz. But for the Hornets it
was Larry Johnson, Muggsy Bogues, Alonso, Morning, Scott bro the woman.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
We forgot Hersey Hawkins, oh the Hawk from Westinghouse High School.
Oh Man, Herssey could play big fan too. I'm a
big Hersey Hawkins guy. Played in high school in the
same team with Eddie Johnson, Eddie Johnson, the commentator now
man as a good shooting team right there.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
We'll see what kind of history is made tonight, the
Hornets taking on the Indiana Pacers. Our game preview coming
up next here on the Hornets, I've cast Sam farbar
Era Collins here with you on the HHC the Hornets
tipe cast, brought to you by Cena. Just seven games
left here on the twenty four twenty five regular season.
(13:17):
Tonight is game seventy five. I guess that's what it means.
Seventy five games in the books so far. Actually this
is the seventy sixth game, I apologize, So seventy sixth
game coming up tonight. There are three home games still remaining.
Charlot will be back home on Friday, Sunday a matinee
against the Chicago Bulls, and then wrap things up on
Tuesday against Memphis. So very few opportunities for fans still
(13:40):
in this season and in this configuration of spectrum centers.
The reimagining is going to happen again, and I can
guarantee you you're gonna miss the games when they're gone.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
How how long does it take you after the.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Season ends for you to get the itch saying I
wish I was going to the hive again right now.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
Oh man, Well, when the first the season first ends,
it's just a gut punch knowing that they're there is
sixteen other teams that are continuing, you know, and sixteen
other you know, journeys that are still waiting to happen,
and we're not included.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
So that's the disappointing part.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
So for the first two weeks of the first round,
I think the Hornet should be there, and it's just
it's a gut punch. But then after that, you know,
once we kind of get to the multiple levels of
the playoffs and like, okay, well the Hornet's maybe maybe
we're not going to get to the Eastern Conference finals
this year, So then I can kind of let my
guard down. But by the middle of May, definitely, by
the first of June, I'm.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Likele to do this again. You know, I'm just getting bored.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Man.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
How many miles can I ride in the peloton? You know?
How many times can I go to the range and
hit golf balls? You know? How many times can I
go meet a buddy out for a beer?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
You know?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
I just I love.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Being at the arena and not being in the arena,
it's just a gut punch in the summers.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
See, I'm the same way I thought that I was
doing well because I thought, you know, I love my job.
I love what I get to do watching Hornets games
and calling Hornets games for all great fans on the radio.
But I also love being a dad, and so there's
a big part of me that when the season ends,
it just it's nice to take a week. And then
by the time that first playoff series changes home court advantage,
(14:58):
that's usually when I'm starting to locked back in and
be like, all right, what but that's nowhere near as
long as you lasted. So maybe I'm not as good
a dad as I thought I was.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Eric, Well, my kids are older, and actually no one
really wants me to run the house much anymore, so
I have the house all to myself.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
So it's kind of an odd situation.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Fair enough, all right, Hornets are going to be in
the house of the Indiana Pacers gamebridge Field House for
this one tonight. Pacers forty four and thirty one on
the season, they are seemingly cruising towards home court advantage.
They still have a little bit of work to do.
Only a couple of games edge over the Detroit Pistons
and another game and a half or so over Milwaukee,
(15:34):
so they've got something more to play for right now.
Charlotte is coming off a win over Utah, So those
are some of the factors going into tonight's game. We
need players to watch for both teams, as well as
stat to watch other than points, because that's cheating. Whoever
scores the most points wins the game. Where do you
want to start?
Speaker 4 (15:48):
I'm going to do player to watch and I just
think I'm going to go tree chops because I'm not
going to try and look for something that's not there.
One of my favorite players to watch is Tyre's Halliburton.
I just think he's fantastic. I love his inside out game.
We saw him early in the year and I don't
think he was playing at the level that I normally
expect him to play at, but he's gotten there and
I just think he's.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Such a fun guy to watch.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
You know, his shot is not classic, but he shoots
it from different spots in the floor. He shoots it
higher than most anyone in the league. He plays with
this joy and this smile I'm a big Tyrius Seliburton guy,
so I'm looking forward watching him play excellent.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
I'm gonna go I think off the bench or a
little bit in the darkest to who's in who's out
for this one as of the recording of this podcast,
but Obi Toppins a guy that's always kind of fascinated
me back to his time in New York and even
prior to that, when he was playing at Dayton, someone
who just he wasn't on anyone's radar at sixteen years old,
and then emerged from Dayton and you know, became this
(16:45):
high flyer that everyone was infatuated with. Winter New York
had some success, but not as much as he's found
here with the Pacers, and if they're going to go
far in the postseason, I think he plays a bigger
role than some people might suspect. Now they've already made
a sizeable run in the postseason, so this would not
be entirely uncharted waters here for the Indiana Pacers. But
(17:06):
Obi Toppin, he's growing his game. He's certainly not you
know Blake Griffin back in the day, the former number
one pick. But Blake I remember covering him when I
was in LA and he was with the Clippers, was
known as this superstar dunker, great athlete, could jump over everyone,
and worked really hard to expand his game and make
himself a far more dynamic player than he was when
he ended the league. Maybe we're starting to see a
(17:27):
little bit of that with Obie is he's stretched his
game a little bit. But just over all, the fun
part of watching someone try and jump over a seven
foot human, which is something he tries to do every
now and again, that's a lot of fun too. Up next,
do you want to do stat to watch or horne
it to watch?
Speaker 4 (17:41):
I'm gonna do hornet to watch, and it's not too
much of a surprise. I like watching Mark Williams play
on both ends of the floor. But one of the
reasons I want to watch him play is because he
is on a free throw heater. I don't have the
number in front of me, but it was fourteen at
some point in the game against Utah, so I think
it's now fifteen or sixteen of I'll have it by
the time tip starts.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
But I'm a big fan of.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Free throw streaks, particularly when you're seven feet one inches tall.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
So I said the other night I think the.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
Longest tornet has the longest free throw streak currently cooking.
So that's my dream is for Mark to play a
well rounded game both ends of the floor and just
get fouled the entire game and shoot fifteen free throws
and run a streak up to thirty plus.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
That's my stat to watch and player to watch.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
These are the kind of numbers I was looking for
last sevent you could have gone right to that one.
He also got very close to extending his streak of
consecutive made field goals. The only missed one last game.
He's missed one in the last two games. He's gone
seventeen for eighteen.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Yeah, but the one miss kind of messed him up
because I think it was at eleven in a row.
He holds the franchise record eighteen in a row that
he did and was it two years ago. But yeah,
we were monitoring that at one point he had made
eleven consecutive shots from the field and fourteen consecutive free throws.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Just funky stuff. So looking for more of the same
from Mark.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Very good stuff. Another stat to watch her in the
coming days because I charted everything because I'm insane. Is
Miles Bridges has a chance moving to the top five
in career rebounds for the Charlotte Hornets, going after our
old friend Biz mack Biambo. We just saw a couple
of weeks ago in San Antonio. Biz currently fifth in
franchise history.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Down a couple of notches. Yeah no, yeah, come on, Miles,
let's get that done. We won't mention Biz for a while.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
He's a couple games away. I think, who knows, maybe
he gets there tonight. My player to watch, I'm gonna
go with Nick Smith Junior. He's someone who a little
bit like you were talking about before with t Jon Salon.
Obviously very very different player, very very different skill set,
but someone who came into the league at nineteen, very talented,
has a great skill set, was the National high school
Player of the Year.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
A little bit of a tough.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Time injury wise in his one year in college, but
I've seen a big jump from last season to this
season and early this season to this point. He's someone
who seems to be a pretty diligent worker. His three
point percentage off the benches in the vicinity of where
it was overall last season. He's someone who's clearly got
(19:57):
some NBA gifts, and it's just a matter of continuing
to refine his game, grow his game fine where he
can fit in best when all the collective pieces are together.
But I think in somewhat similar fashion to Tjon, he's
a young player who's getting extra opportunities now. Some of
it's due to injuries and it has been the case
for quite some time, but closing games now, that's something
(20:18):
he wasn't necessarily asked to do as much earlier in
the season. So I'm looking forward to see how he fares,
perhaps going one on one at times with Tyre's Halliburton.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
And maybe he has to go against TJ McConnell, who's
one of my favorite players, just because he plays the
exact same way every single game, and he has every
single year he's been in the NBA. He is the
consummate NBA point guard and if you can do work
against him without him getting under your skin, you know
you are a pro as well. If Nick Smith and
(20:47):
TJ McConnell are matched up, it will be a great
learning experience for Nick.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
So looking forward to that matchup.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Last but not least a stat to watch. Oh goodness,
can I just go as small one like three. That
would be the third consecutive win for the Hornets against
the Pacers when they win, like I would love to
sweep the Pacers. We just swept the Utah Jazz and
that has me beaming for the last forty eight hours.
I want to sweep the Pacers. Totally think it's possible.
Beaten twice, already already won in this building. You know,
(21:13):
let's get her done.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
I love it. We'll go with that one. I'll go
for one.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
That's maybe a little more of a reason why, and
we're looking for growth game to game. Turnovers were a
big issue last game against Utah is probably why the
Jazz stayed in the game, not just the volume of turnovers,
but how frequently they turned into live ball runouts the
other direction and just easy baskets off turnovers. So just
looking for that improvement game to game.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
It can be.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Difficult because there's so much fluctuation in the lineup and
who's in who's out from game to game. That's got
to throw off chemistry from time to time. But overall,
just looking to see some improvement, including against an Indiana
team that likes to turn up the tempo and has
a general in a positive way. Pest in TJ McConnell,
who is known to take the ball away more so
than most point guards.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
I'm with you on that.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
Yeah, I just Charles Lee says it all the time.
It's you know, there's nothing really super tangible about what
actually has to happen in terms of boxes that need
to be checked, but you'd just like to see improvement
across the board. And yeah, handling the ball better that
the turnovers against Utah that's just gonna be a big
bug boo, so to cut that down.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
I'm all in, Eric, It's always fun to do this
with you.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I get the pleasure and privilege you're telling you every
single game day. I will miss you while you're on
your peloton marathon over the course of the summer and
can't wait for the twenty five to twenty six campaign
to roll around for us to get to sit down
do this again.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Thank you for having me. It's been a joy. That's
Eric Collins.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Thanks as well to our producer Rob Longo for putting
this podcast together. Most of all to all of you
for tuning, and tomorrow we'll have a game recap edition
of the HC. Till then, for Eric and Rob. I'm
Sam Farber saying it's been a pleasure and a privilege
having you along. We'll talk to you next time. Right here,
I'm the Hornets Hoodcast.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Thank you for listening to The Hornets Podcast, brought to
you by Santa, the official Ie 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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