Subscribe
Follow Us
The Charlotte Hornets struggled no matter where they played last season, but their home record, where they only managed to win 13 out of 41 games, was truly embarrassing. However, in the 2023-24 season, it looks like the Hornets are intent on making things different.
Charlotte beat the Atlanta Hawks in a tight game in the season opener in front of their home fans, with the final score coming in at 116-110. Excitement for the team is clearly high, as lots of seats were filled against a team in the Hawks that normally wouldn't bring a ton of fans to the stadium. The energy was amazing, and the Hornets players felt the love, with Terry Rozier offering a challenge to fans after the win.
“We definitely want to thank the fans,” Rozier said. “We noticed a big difference from this year to last year. We don’t want to say it’s just because it’s the season opener, we expect the fans to help us out and be there all season long. We thank them.”
In the 2022-23 season, the Hornets had the 23rd highest average fan attendance in the NBA at 17,123. Maybe they'll be able to creep into the top 20 if they continue to improve and become a real playoff contender this season. Having rowdy home fans is the equivalent of having a sixth man on the floor, and it's clear that rookie Brandon Miller was excited about the fired up crowd as well.
“Seeing all the people there was an exciting moment,” Brandon Miller said about the fans in the building. “Having them here cheer me on, I think all I can do is just play as hard as I can.”
The crowd seems to love Miller already, as they gave him a warm welcome when he was the first man off the bench for the Hornets, and were cheering quite loudly for him after he hit big three-pointers and slammed home a big alley-oop dunk off of a pass from LaMelo Ball. With the amount of talent on this roster, fans should be turning out on a nightly basis as they attempt to fulfill Rozier's challenge to pack the Spectrum Center throughout the season.
