2021 Hornets Playoff Watch

CuseMayne · Post #41 » by **CuseMayne** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 2:08 am

Night of 3/29:

Somehow the Beal-less Wizards beat the Pacers.
Heat beat the Knicks.
Pels beat the Celtics.
Detroit up 18 against the Raptors 8min left.
Utah up 19 at half against the Cavs.

Hopefully Warriors beat the Bulls to complete another very good night for our playoff standing.

Rich4114 · Post #42 » by **Rich4114** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 2:12 am

Boston, Indiana and NYK L’s tonight, profitable night for the Hornets. Gotta take care of business against Washington.

Rays Pompadour · Post #43 » by **Rays Pompadour** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 1:12 pm

This, from today's ESPN:

"BPI projects that the Celtics and Heat -- last year's Eastern Conference finalists -- will finish fourth and fifth, respectively. Boston added Evan Fournier and Miami picked up Trevor Ariza, Victor Oladipo and Nemanja Bjelica ahead of the trade deadline. The Hornets, meanwhile, are projected to finish sixth, and make the playoffs for the first time in five years."

BobsBuddy · Post #44 » by **BobsBuddy** » Wed Mar 31, 2021 7:41 pm

4 out of the last 5 shows real possibilities for us in the playoffs, but we are missing one thing... A big man REBOUNDING MACHINE.. We got one but JB wouldn't give him the minutes.....Nick Richards...PLEASE pull BIZ and give him the minutes NOW to get him ready.
:wink:

Rich4114 · Post #45 » by **Rich4114** » Thu Apr 1, 2021 2:40 am

Losses by Boston and NYK vs Minn tonight!

BlackOutBuzz · Post #46 » by **BlackOutBuzz** » Thu Apr 1, 2021 4:25 am

We have a 7-game advantage over the 11th seed (Toronto).

Hell, the 10th-place Bulls are 2.5 games ahead of them, too. Obviously still about 1/3 of the season to go, but the 4-10 range is coming together. Just gotta figure out the order.

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CuseMayne · Post #47 » by **CuseMayne** » Thu Apr 1, 2021 4:29 am

Another damn good night for our playoff outlook:

Knicks lose to the T'Wolves
Celtics lose to the Mavs
Pacers lose to the Heat
Bulls lose to the Suns
Raptors lose to the Thunder

The Knicks one really surprised me. The Wolves came back from down 18 and in a dicey ending they won by 1. Really enjoyed tuning into the end of that one :wink:

Post #48 » by **yosemiteben** » Sat Apr 3, 2021 3:00 am

NYK did is a favor and lost to the Mavs.

Huge game Sunday against Boston.

euphorbus · Post #49 » by **euphorbus** » Sat Apr 3, 2021 7:44 am

This team desperately needs to sign a 10-day player. Heck, I would even sign a guy named MJ.

CuseMayne · Post #50 » by **CuseMayne** » Sat Apr 3, 2021 5:48 pm

euphorbus wrote:This team desperately needs to sign a 10-day player. Heck, I would even sign a guy named MJ.

Someone like Glenn Robinson III comes to mind.

Rich4114 · Post #51 » by **Rich4114** » Sat Apr 10, 2021 1:18 pm

I can’t help but scoreboard watch and look at the remaining games of the teams clustered at 4-8. Atlanta is looking like our biggest threat, so this game Sunday is pretty huge. Also if we manage to stay in 4th or even 5th, we have a real chance to win our first playoff series since 2002 when this was a different franchise all together.

Braggins · Post #52 » by **Braggins** » Sat Apr 10, 2021 1:29 pm

Rich4114 wrote:Also if we manage to stay in 4th or even 5th, we have a real chance to win our first playoff series since 2002 when this was a different franchise all together.

Fully healthy I'm not scared of any team in the East after the top 3.

Embiid will absolutely crush us and Brooklyn is way too talented. We shouldn't have much chance at beating Milwaukee, but it could be a fun competitive series and they have a recent history of choking in the playoffs, so who knows.

I'll be happy with anything except 7th/8th, but its really going to be difficult to stay in the top 6. We've been getting some lucky breaks with teams missing players and the wheels could fall off real quick if our luck runs out.

Rich4114 · Post #53 » by **Rich4114** » Sat Apr 10, 2021 2:55 pm

Worst matchup for us is Philadelphia. We can’t match up with their size. Nets as well for additional reasons.

Rich4114 · Post #54 » by **Rich4114** » Sun Apr 11, 2021 9:49 pm

Took a double L today since Boston came back and upset Denver on the road. We are now in a 3 way tie for 5th.

Rich4114 · Post #55 » by **Rich4114** » Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:32 pm

I really don’t want the play in tournament. I feel like we need to be top 6 and anything else is like simultaneously missing the playoffs and not qualifying for the lottery. We won’t be competitive against Philly and MIGHT win one game against the Nets if they coast and get complacent with a 3-0 lead. Playoffs would be valuable for sure, but not if our core guys are in street clothes. Ugh we were so close this year. I know there’s still time, but how do we stay within striking distance of 4/5/6 with these injuries?

amcoolio · Post #56 » by **amcoolio** » Thu Apr 15, 2021 4:05 pm

If Hayward/Ball/Washington are out for the remainder of the regular season while we will probably fall to 8th worst record, which isn't a bad thing. We still need talent

Soul Rebel · Post #57 » by **Soul Rebel** » Thu Apr 15, 2021 4:08 pm

I don't know if it's been brought up already, so I don't want to repeat any others' thoughts, but how much criticism and blame does JB's staff deserve for the position we are in. The strength and conditioning of these players, the constant players in and out of the lineup all year, and JB's shortened 8-9 man rotations in a season when the games are jam packed together and over a shorter time period. I know some of the younger guys aren't "ready" yet, but I think JB really did a disservice by not giving guys like Haywood, Rozier, Zeller, etc. some breathing room with better roster management.

It's frustrating how good we look when everyone's on the court together and are in that 2nd tier of teams in the East.

I agree with Rich....we are in no-man's land currently, and it's hard to see the light, moving forward.

Post #58 » by **yosemiteben** » Thu Apr 15, 2021 4:30 pm

Quite the novel take to blame JB for injuries when we've also been blaming JB for not playing guys like Ball and Monk enough and guys like the Martins and Graham too much.

DY_nasty · Post #59 » by **DY_nasty** » Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:38 pm

i've been pro-tank ever since lamelo went down, just to be upfront. even when everything was good, this team still had a negative point differential. chickens were gonna roost eventually

Soul Rebel wrote:I don't know if it's been brought up already, so I don't want to repeat any others' thoughts, but how much criticism and blame does JB's staff deserve for the position we are in. The strength and conditioning of these players, the constant players in and out of the lineup all year, and JB's shortened 8-9 man rotations in a season when the games are jam packed together and over a shorter time period. I know some of the younger guys aren't "ready" yet, but I think JB really did a disservice by not giving guys like Haywood, Rozier, Zeller, etc. some breathing room with better roster management.

It's frustrating how good we look when everyone's on the court together and are in that 2nd tier of teams in the East.

I agree with Rich....we are in no-man's land currently, and it's hard to see the light, moving forward.

I brought up the injury thing a while ago and its kinda both a league-wide thing and also these rotations. Take PJ for example.

Dude will be playing late into games we've got no chance in winning or have already cleanly locked up. He's had recurring injuries since his time in college. Goes down after *several* lower leg injuries.

I fully understand the strain this season has put on players regarding soft-tissue injuries and what its done to conditioning programs across the league. I don't blame JB for Nate Darling going down the instant he touches the court. I *DO* blame him for seeing the rookie of the year holding his hand for long stretches and opting to continue to play the kid in game we couldn't win - and that's only compounded frustration when he opts to NOT play the kid when he's actually needed down the stretch in a very winnable game.

The lack of consistency or even clear priority regarding what he values is problematic.

yosemiteben wrote:Quite the novel take to blame JB for injuries when we've also been blaming JB for not playing guys like Ball and Monk enough and guys like the Martins and Graham too much.

I'm not even sure what this means lol

Why run guys into the dirt for long stretches on road trips when its been clear since preseason that we're going to need to give looks to our younger/unproven guys sooner rather than later? He doesn't even know what he's hoping to get out of guys as evidenced by his "play the martin twins!" strategy of hoping they do everything instead of giving them clear roles to fill on offense or defense anymore. Now they've got zero confidence AND we need them to step up as everyone is hurt.

And our rotations have also been a stark contrast from what he said he'd do earlier in the season regarding staggered lineups. Currently, we've just taken turns running different guys into the ground :lol:

And its not even as needed thing either. Last night, Graham FINALLY hits a much needed 3 in the beginning of the 4th and JB benches him immediately so that we can go scoreless again.

Hornet Mania · Post #60 » by **Hornet Mania** » Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:39 pm

The team just isn't that good when they're missing 3-5 of their top 8 players.

JB's 'switch everything and watch some scrub have a career night' defense is irksome but the injuries were not avoidable. None of them, except maybe Rozier's one game tendinitis stint, were due to wear and tear as far as I could tell. I'd blame our choice of shoes if anything, or at least look into it. The number of ankle rolls is concerning.