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The New Orleans Pelicans came in to Buzz City to face the Charlotte Hornets and left with a loss. Miles Bridges and co. won 106-103 in a nail-biter all 48 minutes.
Interestingly, the final four minutes were critical moments for both teams, but the Hornets came up with more stops down the stretch. That included shutting down CJ McCollum in that fourth quarter, where he only scored two of his 27 points. James Borrego's men really paid attention to details and took away anything they were thriving on early out of the game. Limiting New Orleans to one possession and contesting every shot were the keys to victory on Monday night.
Borrego told the media the defensive game-plan after the crazy final minute of play.
“Take away the three. We knew CJ or Devontae' we're gonna get that ball. We trapped CJ and everybody else adjusted accordingly. We executed well those last two minutes extremely well on both sides of the ball,” the Hornets coach shares.
They did suffocate McCollum on that last possession pretty intensely. By the time he was able to get rid of the ball, the pass was tipped by PJ Washington and Devontae' Graham couldn't pick up the loose ball on time to get a shot up. It was the perfect way to seal the game because the defensive intensity was at the climax at the end of the game, which is the perfect way to close out any night.
Miles Bridges and Mason Plumlee echoed the same things in their postgame interviews as well. That last stop was the icing on the cake for the win. However, they talked about some of the keys to their five-game winning streak as well, and it was exciting to hear.
“Getting defensive stops,” Bridges said on the biggest factor behind the winning streak. “Getting the ball out of the best players hands, that's been our best bet the last few games. We're gonna continue to do that.”
There is certainly an emphasis on defense in Bridges' response. According to PJ Washington last game, the goal is to keep teams to under 109, and they did that Monday night. The team's growth on that end of the floor does seem to be at a season's best right now. It seems like everything has came together at the right time for the Hornets, and Plumlee has taken notice to that.
“Collectively, there's a difference in the guys approach. We're all about the win now an it's good to see. Having guys in the locker room like Isaiah and Montrezl have given us some direction. Guys are just playing unselfishly. As long as we play that way, we're going to be alright,” the Hornets big man added.
The Hornets have 10 more games remaining and are still clinging to that ninth seed. If they continue to play this way leading into the play-in tournament, they will definitely be playing in the first round of the playoffs. Only time will tell if they can keep this up. They face the New York Knicks on Wednesday night. Let's see how long they can keep this win streak going!
