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The Charlotte Hornets lost another close one to the Atlanta Hawks, 107-104, on Saturday night. With LaMelo Ball's calf strain sidelining him for the foreseeable future, the Hornets lost their fifth straight game and fourth straight at home. Ball's name was added to a running list of other key injured players like Miles Bridges, Mark Williams, Tre Mann, and others. Wins are hard enough to come by, and injuries clearly make the job harder than it already is.
Despite the injuries, the Hornets lost their last three games by a combined eight points. They've been at the end of the finish line with each team, but just haven't been able to seal the deal. Charles Lee knows it too.
“I think that we are doing a lot of really good things to put ourselves in a position to win a game,” Lee said. “It’s coming down to one or two possessions. Throughout the game, there were things that we can control and that we can do a little bit better at in terms of our coverage execution. Even on that last play where (De’Andre) Hunter gets that seam pass, it’s just like how can our reads be a little bit tighter to make sure that we don’t have two guys on the ball and allow them that seam pass right there? … The guys continued to try to execute. Brandon (Miller) hits a big shot to put us back in pretty good position, and the rest is history.”
Charles Lee gets real about injuries to LaMelo Ball, others
With more than five guys listed on the injury report, including the star player in LaMelo Ball, it could be hard to keep a positive attitude amidst all the losses. Coach Lee has done a good job of staying in the moment and focusing on the pieces he has in front of him.
“I think that we have a really good team. These guys believe in one another and they believe in the game plan that’s going on, so I think that no matter who plays and as we continue to get guys back, we welcome them. We’re going to be the same competitive squad that’s going to go out and defend at a high level. I think the guys are finding a little bit of a rhythm with the offense and the flow and are trusting the pass a lot more when they get to that paint. I just see a lot of really good things.”
Injuries stink, but Lee has no choice but continue to utilize the pieces available to the best of his ability.
At least the Hornets got Nick Richards back
After missing around a month, Nick Richards did make his return to the court. In 25 minutes of action, Richards registered 12 points and six rebounds before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. Lee was happy to have Richards back in the rotation to make an impact on this game.
“It was great to see him out there,” Lee said. “I thought defensively, he helped us protect the paint. He had a couple of really nice blocked shots. It’s nice when you can get up on the ball handler, or sometimes he covered some of the mistakes that we had in the pick-and-roll coverage and he’s there to block the shots. I thought with defensive rebounding, it’s nice sometimes to have that big on big and not have to have our smalls down there battling.
“I thought offensively, his screen assists and doing a really good job of getting our guys open. When he gets to the paint, it's a little bit of a different feel down there when you can have a seven-footer finishing around the basket. I thought it was a lot of really good things for Nick.”
It will be a tough stretch not having multiple players in the rotation, but it is a next-man-up mentality in sports. Plus, in order to break this ugly losing streak the Hornets are suffering through, short-term memory will help them get over this loss and on to the next one.
