The hottest team in the National Basketball Association at the moment are the Charlotte Hornets. Charlotte has now won seven straight games after their impressive 102-95 win over the New Orleans Pelicans at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
It was how Charlotte defeated New Orleans on Monday that was noteworthy. The Hornets were once down 56-34 to the Pelicans with three minutes left in the first half before they went on an impressive 68-39 run over the last 27 minutes. In the process, it was the fifth biggest comeback in Hornets history.
Five Hornets reached double digits in points. Point guard LaMelo Ball of Anaheim, California, the 2021 NBA Rookie of the Year, led the Hornets in scoring with 24 points. Meanwhile, small forward Kon Knueppel of Milwaukee, Wisconsin had 17 points, small forward Brandon Miller of Antioch, Tennessee had 16 points, power forward Grant Williams of Houston, Texas had 16 points and rookies center Ryan Kalkbrenner of St. Louis, Missouri had 10 points. Williams and Kalkbrenner reached double digits in scoring in a reserve role.
It is extremely noteworthy what the Hornets have been able to accomplish the last couple of weeks. They have beaten the Orlando Magic 124-97, the Washington Wizards 119-115, clobbered the Philadelphia 76ers 130-93, the Memphis Grizzlies 1122-97, the Dallas Mavericks 123-121, and had a shocking 111-106 win over the San Antonio Spurs during the streak.
After what started out as an abysmal season for the Hornets as they only won 16 of their first 44 games, they are now making a run at the play-in-tournament. Charlotte is now only one game back of the Chicago Bulls for the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference.
