Buzz Bulletin: Hornets Have Hard Luck in 4th Quarters down the Home Stretch
Charlotte goes into the last game of the season hoping the Hawks stay hot against likely Play-In Tournament opponent Miami Heat
Are the Hornets entering the postseason with a fourth quarter curse?
On Tuesday, April 7 against the Boston Celtics (35-16, 2nd in the East), and then again on Friday, April 10 against the Detroit Pistons (59-22, 1st in the East), the Charlotte Hornets (43-38, 9th in the East) played three tight quarters against the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
Then they fell apart.
In Boston, Charlotte trailed 87-90 after three quarters, with 36 points from LaMelo Ball. In the fourth quarter, however, Ball didn’t make a single shot, and the Hornets travelled home with a 102-113 loss.
While the same 4th Quarter fate befell the Bugs at home against Detroit, the Hornets have faced one of the toughest schedules in the home stretch. They enter the postseason guaranteed a spot in the Play-In Tournament, and with one game to go the Hive has to feel happy about a team that head coach Charles Lee and the Hornets’ front office have turned around faster than expected thanks to healthy starters, smart trades, and a revelatory rookie year from first round draft pick Kon Knueppel.
Unsurprisingly, Lee told reporters this week that he thinks Knueppel should be the NBA Rookie of the Year
“I understand why the race [for Rookie of the Year] is tight. The rookie class this year has been pretty impressive,” said Lee. “But I said it about a month ago: to me, it’s not even close. I still feel that way. I think that this period of time has shown it even more. When you have a guy who’s been as productive as Kon has been, when he’s been as consistent as he is, and as efficient as he’s been on a playoff-caliber team, I think that’s pretty impressive.
The Hornets close out the regular season Sunday evening at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks. The stakes will be high for the Buzz as they fight to clinch a home game against Miami in the 9-10 matchup of the NBA Play-In Tournament. If Charlotte loses to New York, and Miami wins their game against the Hawks, the Heat will host Charlotte on account of their 3-1 advantage in the season series.
Even if the Hornets lose to the Heat in the Play-In Tournament, they have a season to be proud of — and sky-high expectations for next year.
Cold-Shooting Hornets Lose Home Finale to Pistons
4th quarter collapse dooms Charlotte as Detroit takes the season series 4-0
By Adrian Singerman
The Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons defeated the Charlotte Hornets 105-120 at Spectrum Arena on Friday night, knocking the Hornets out of contention for direct entry into the playoffs and locking them into a play-in game against divisional rival Miami. A game that featured 11 lead-changes and 13 ties through three quarters turned into a rout as Detroit put away the Buzz with an 18-2 run to start the fourth quarter. All-Star center Jalen Duren led five Pistons in double figures with 20 points, and Duncan Robinson added 19 points of his own. LaMelo Ball led the way for Charlotte with 27 points, 20 of which came in a dazzling first-half display of long-range shooting, and Brandon Miller scored 22 points.
It was evident from the start that there was no love lost between the two squads following their early February fracas that led to four players being suspended for multiple games. Less than two minutes into the contest, double technical fouls were assessed to Miller and Robinson after an alley-oop dunk by Miller, whose momentum as he released the rim carried him into the Pistons’ sharpshooter.
Though things settled down from there, both teams played with playoff like intensity for the the first three quarters. Already having locked up the top seed in the Conference, Detroit nevertheless played their normal starting unit, using their suffocating defense and timely shooting to keep the Hornets at bay. Charlotte did their best to hang with Detroit for as long as they did, trailing by only three points at halftime and after three quarters, but the Pistons’ fourth quarter surge proved decisive.
Keys to the Game
Charlotte managed only 10 points in the 4th quarter, as Detroit outscored them by fifteen in the period. For the game, Charlotte shot just 39% from the field overall and 28% from 3-point territory.
Detroit hounded the Buzz on the defensive end all evening, forcing Charlotte into 15 turnovers, 13 of which were steals and many of which were live-ball turnovers that turned into easy breakaway baskets.
The Pistons dominated the paint all evening, pouring in 62 points in the paint and collecting 16 offensive rebounds. Hornets head coach Charles Lee pointed to Detroit’s physicality as the turning point in their victory: “They’re good at being physical and getting to the paint. And I think offensively, we let some of their physicality bother us. Our screening was not physical enough, way too may guys going under. Not the group that I think we’ve been the last couple of weeks, and what we’ve built throughout the season.”
Buzz Bright Spots
When asked after the game what the message was in the locker room following the Hornets’ loss, Grant Williams offered a philosophical response: “Control what you can control. You can’t look ahead. We have one more game where we can get back to playing Hornets basketball, and also help us execute. This group, we’re a young group. I went through this in Boston. You have some moments- you can consider it maturity, you can consider it mindset, whatever it is- but the group just stays together. A night like this can really put things into perspective, and this season has really helped us get those learning moments. You look at the last game with Boston; we saw coverages that we have’t seen in a while. Playoff basketball brings the best out of teams and starts bringing things that you probably don’t see in the regular season and don’t have time to evaluate.”
Buzzworthy Facts
With his two 3-point baskets, Brandon Miller became the third Hornets player to make 200 3-pointers this season, joining rookie sharpshooting sensation Kon Knueppel and star guard LaMelo Ball. The Hornets are just the fourth team ever to feature three players with 200 made threes in a season, joining the 2016-17 Rockets, the 2022-23 Warriors, and the 2024-25 Celtics.
Also, since Miller had a dunk off of one of these passes against Detroit: if you were ever wondering why it’s called an alley-oop, the basketball term is derived from the French phrase "allez! hop!"
What’s Next
As Charlotte heads to New York, Detroit travels to Indiana to finish their regular season slate against the Pacers Sunday evening.
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