Charlotte Hornets Stay Alive In Eastern Conference Playoff Race
By Max Seng
The Charlotte Hornets have thrust themselves back into the playoff race by winning seven of their last 10 games.
After losing to the Washington Wizards 118-111 Tuesday night, the Charlotte Hornets are two games back of the last Eastern Conference playoff spot.
After going 7-19 in January and February, the Hornets have reeled of an impressive stretch of wins, going 9-8 in March and kicked off April with an important road win against a Western Conference playoff team in the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.
The Hornets were within a game of both the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat before dropping Tuesday’s game.
With only a handful of games to go for each team, the Chicago Bulls currently possess the easiest remaining schedule in the association. That likely locks up one of the two remaining seeds up for grabs, as Miami, Indiana and Charlotte will fight over the final seed.
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According to teamrankings.com, the Hornets are currently ranked 10th in remaining strength of schedule, with Miami facing the third-toughest remaining road in the entire league. The Pacers settle in at 26th.
A monumental matchup looms between the Heat and Hornets Wednesday night in Charlotte. The Hornets currently lead the season series 2-1, but are coming off a 118-11 loss to the Wizards in the nation’s capital.
As recently as March 14, FiveThirtyEight gave the Hornets a 4 percent chance of making the playoffs. That number has jumped to 19 percent with Charlotte’s recent run of success.
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A huge part of that recent success has been the Hornets’ late game execution, a point of weakness for most of the season.
After ranking among the very worst in clutch defensive rating all season which is currently 121.6, Charlotte has become much more stout in clutch situations the last 10 games.
Sporting a 5-1 record and tightening the strings defensively to possess a 86.8 defensive rating in those same clutch situations has helped spark the Hornets’ recent run.
Charlotte’s most recent defensive success came against the Thunder, forcing them into a season-high 24 turnovers, eight of which came from MVP candidate Russell Westbrook.
The key to Buzz City’s improved defense late in games has been better rim protection, eliminating uncontested baskets and tightening up defensive rotations and nailing weak side help responsibilities.
In addition, Charlotte has found late game secondary options, alleviating some of the load Kemba Walker has had to shoulder for most of the season.
The clutch defense has been a hallmark of the Steve Clifford era in Charlotte, as the Hornets have ranked in the top five each year during his coaching tenure before this season.
It seems that now, the Hornets are rounding into form and becoming the team many hoped they would be for the majority of the season. Unfortunately, it may be too late as they no longer control their own destiny in the playoff race.
If Charlotte can close out this season strong by winning these last four games, it may earn them a second consecutive playoff berth for the first time since 2001-02.
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That would certainly be considered a success, given all of the injury and obstacles the Hornets have had to overcome during this tumultuous season.