What Charles Lee Said After the Charlotte Hornets Beat the Kings

Wednesday night, the Charlotte Hornets gutted out an eight-point win on the road over the Sacramento Kings to improve to 34-33 on the season.

Shortly after, head coach Charles Lee met with the media for a brief press conference. Here is everything he had to say.

Initial thoughts on the win

“I thought besides that first quarter, we were pretty good defensively, holding them under 30 points throughout the rest of the game. The third and fourth quarter, I thought we kind of tightened the screws and held them under 25. I thought some of the matchup changes that we made and assignments coverage-wise helped us to prevent (DeMar) DeRozan from continuously turning the corner and get to his spots. Tried to mix in a couple double teams throughout, and the team was super connected on some of their scrambles. We turned them over and got some stops; we just didn’t convert enough on fastbreaks. The defensive intentionality was there, the offense trying to play together was really good and just got better and better every quarter.”

Four starters reaching 20+ points

“Such a balance, which was really good to see. And each one kind of had a pocket during the game when we really needed them, and where they, in a flurry, were able to score some buckets. They all just play so well off of each other. In transition, their heads up, running with purpose, they’re looking to kick ahead and pass ahead. Give Moussa (Diabaté) some credit; all the offensive rebounds he comes up with and extra possessions get these guys opportunities. Really proud of the effort we got from all five of our starters.”

What has helped the Hornets flip their season around

“I always tell people that I think it was a belief and trust in our daily habits, to be honest. It was things that we were doing from offseason into training camp into the beginning of the season, and dealt with some injuries, but the guys continue to trust, commit to getting better, commit to the journey, commit to each other. And I think during that time, our defense took another step. The guys on the ball have been really good, and the activity around it has been great in terms of deflections, creating some steals, and changing the team’s shot profiles. And then offensively, when you can have some health and consistency with your lineups, I think these guys are just learning how to play with each other and off of each other.”

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