Notes From Hornets' Ninth Win in a Row Versus Atlanta

This was easily the biggest Charlotte win of the series since the "BBQ Pig Trophy" was introduced as a reward for the winner in the Hornets/Hawks series a few years ago. It was definitely the biggest game in general for the Hornets versus Atlanta since they met in the NBA Play-In Tournament in 2022. The Hawks made a fool of Charlotte that night.

This isn't revenge... but a 125-119 win on the road definitely helps.

First Quarter

Charlotte kept itself in this one early from some big-time first-quarter Miles Bridges' makes, including an and-one right at the rim.

While the Hawks' Onyeka Okongwu and Zaccharie Risacher started white-hot from three-point land, scoring a combined 18 points in the first quarter. Bridges kept them close with the help of Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel while LaMelo Ball struggled in his first stretch.

Offensive rebounds from Moussa Diabate (who else) and Knueppel in the first really made up for some poor Hornets first-quarter shooting, all-around. Both did tons of dirty work early in this one when the starting unit's first stint couldn't immediately equal Atlanta's hot start from deep.

The lack of a backup point guard has left the Hornets having to fight in other areas of the game just to keep up in the first quarter. Not many teams that start struggling on the field can find themselves competing at the end of a game. It's a testament to Charlotte's toughness that they stayed in this early.

Extra possessions truly kept the ball away from the Hawks at the most opportune time in this game —that cannot be overstated. Hornets finished the first half with a 6-rebound advantage.

Miller hit a first-quarter three-pointer a few feet off the arc in the Hornets' final first-quarter possession that kept it close enough after the bench's minutes for Charlotte to have momentum moving into the second quarter.

2nd Quarter

Ball didn't have the three-pointer going early on, but in the best way possible? He gave up on it. Ball abandoned the long ball for most of the first half after some early misses and focused on getting to the rim, which he did with ease multiple times in the second period.

Ball has been trying to add this get-to-the-rim aspect to his game for years. A big part of Charlotte's streak has been Ball's selfless play, as he gets to the cup and makes plays from there. Pass, layup; whichever.

No. 1 took the lead early, but the second quarter, which swayed back and forth with a close score for most of the period, was controlled by Knueppel down the stretch.

A Diabate dust-up was the biggest surprise in this game-- with the second winding down, Okongwu held Diabate on a rebound that led to pushing, shoving, and coaches holding both players back for a few minutes.

A double tech was issued, but this is just one example of how important this game is in the current NBA Play-In standings. Both teams were battling hard in this one on both ends, despite some high-level shot-making from each side

Knueppel gave Charlotte their first lead late in the second half, and as halftime closed with the score tied at 60-all, the rookie led all scorers with 17 points. The rookie from Duke seemed to feed off the energy from Diabate and Okongwu's moment, because he immediately nailed two back-to-back threes late in the period that gave the Hornets lots of momentum.

Both the Hornets and Hawks finished the first half at 10/19 behind the arc with the score at 60-all.

3rd Quarter

Shannon Spake of FanDuel Southeast said the main halftime conversation with the team focused on the pace. Anyone watching saw how fast this one moved in the first half, and despite the halftime conversation, not much changed at all.

A Bridges three for the first third quarter Hornet points was immediately matched by Atlanta, only to be followed by a Knueppel three matched right away with another Okongwu three. The score was 70-68 Charlotte with 10:03 to play in the third before either side missed their first shot.

It's a shame Charlotte missed on drafting Okongwu the night they took James Bouknight in the draft in 2022, because the kind of shooting No. 17 from Atlanta was showing in this one may have been one of the best outings of his whole career, without looking.

While the bench play has been poor again so far... Okongwu's performance has simply been outmatched since the turn of the first quarter by the Hornets' starting five.

Ball was off early. No problem-- Bridges and Miller took control of the scoring to keep it close early. When Bridges and Miller weren't hitting in the second? Knueppel continued his electric shooting start, and Ball saw his best scoring spurt of the game, to this point.

Diabate has been incredible in his own right, just not on the score sheet. The moose had 12 rebounds by the midway point of the third-- he was a nightmare all night for Atlanta's frontcourt on the glass.

The end of the third was easily the best defense by both teams, and with Miller as the only starter on the floor for those last few minutes, it couldn't have come at a better time. Charlotte didn't turn the ball over in this quarter until 2:26 remaining.

Williams gets six of his biggest points in teal since returning from injury here, ending the quarter. After an and-one layup that tied it at 90, a miss on the other end saw Williams hit a three the very next possession. His six-point run, followed by Tre Mann's first three-pointer of the game, left Charlotte with an eight-point lead to end the third: their largest of the game.

4th Quarter

Time to see who wants the BBQ Pig more. Charlotte entered the fourth, "hotter than wool pajamas," as Eric Collins said, following Mann's three-pointer. This has been one of the most end-to-end high-physicality games the Hornets have played all season.

A LaMelo three-pointer gave hope early that Charlotte was going to run away with this, but of course, Atlanta matched in just a few short possessions after some stops on defense. Atlanta cut a nine-point lead to three in just a few minutes. Ball's three was one of the only shots the Hornets were able to get in the first four minutes of the fourth outside of a Kalkbrenner putback.

A questionable technical foul call on Grant Williams allowed the Hawks to tie it at 105. Risacher, continuing his best game as a pro, followed the technical possession right up with a three to give Atlanta its first lead in some time.

Down 108-105 in a divisional, playoff seeding-relevant game is where you find out what you're made of. To Charles Lee's credit: he followed up the Atlanta run with a timeout that led to one of the BEST Bridges dunks of the season for his 20th point of the night. Wonderful ATO.

The defense tightened up in a serious way once these starters came in, too: the Hornets immediately went on an 8-0 run that forced an Atlanta timeout-- A game of runs, if I've ever seen one.

After a Hawks and-one by Dyson Daniels following the timeout, Bridges followed it with one of his own after Daniels INTENTIONALLY fouled following his free-throw make because the Hawks' coaches wanted a sub. That kind of small chess move tells you how much head coach Quinn Snyder wanted this one, just like Charlotte. There was major playoff energy in this one.

Atlanta's Jalen Johnson tried to turn it back on late in this one, but a Knueppel first second-half three pointer with 1:40 to go may have been the most critical shot of the game. LaMelo drives, skip passes to Bridges, who immediately swung it to Knueppel for a three that put Charlotte up five.

Knueppel followed this up two Hawks' possessions later with an incredible save out of bounds after an Atlanta miss at the rim. Charlotte missed on the ensuing possession. With 32 seconds to go, Charlotte up three, 120-117, Atlanta called a timeout to draw up a plan.

Atlanta's ATO started with Daniels inbounding to Okongwu, who gave it off to CJ McCollum to run the play... but as Johnson came up to set a screen for McCollum, Charlotte's Miller was called for a pretty touch-and-go moving screen foul. Johnson went to the line and nailed both free throws to leave Charlotte up one.

Charlotte got the ball in safely to LaMelo, who put Charlotte back up three points, 122-119, with 23 seconds to go.

Hawks and Snyder opt not to call a timeout despite having one remaining after Ball's two makes...

Hawks guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker ended a broken Atlanta possession with a heavily contested three-point attempt that fell right off the rim into Brandon Miller's hands.

By the time Miller went to the free-throw line? Most Hawks' fans had already walked out of the building.

Charlotte takes a full team effort into Atlanta and uses everything they have to finish the deal versus their I-85 rival, winning their ninth-straight game for the first time since 1999, with a chance to tie the all-time Hornets' win streak record at 10 in a row versus the best in the east, the Detroit Pistons, on Monday.

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