More wins on the way? Interesting stat shows the Hornets have found some answers

Heading into Thursday night's games, the Charlotte Hornets led the NBA in defensive rating (106.7) since Christmas. The wins may not be there, but this could be a sign that things are slowly starting to turn around in the Queen City.

Making shots has been this team's biggest issue, but they haven't had much offensive firepower with LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and other key players all missing time here and there over the course of the first three months of the season.

While many around the league have talked about Lee's smarts on the offensive end of the floor, he commits a lot of time and effort into coaching up the defensive end of things. If you remember back to training camp, nearly every player talked about being the "MIG," also known as the most important guy, meaning the guy guarding the ball on defense. There was always a huge emphasis on defense at the end of practices. That messaging still rings true to this day and clearly, it's getting through to the guys on the roster.

Just how impressive has Charlotte been defensively? Well, the Hornets rank 8th in the league in points in the paint allowed per game (46.6), and when you consider that Nick Richards missed nearly a month and Mark Williams didn't make his debut until December, that's pretty darn good. I'm not cherry-picking that stat, either. It's not like they're getting killed from three-point range. As a matter of fact, their three-point defense is even better, allowing just 35% shooting from deep, which ranks sixth in the NBA.

Yes, I'm aware that the Hornets have a 1-5 record since Christmas, but they've only played two of those games with all five starters healthy. In those two games, they lost to the best team in the NBA, the Cleveland Cavaliers, by 10, and beat the Phoenix Suns. If this group can stay on the floor, it may not be a miserably long season after all.

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