Takeaways from the Charlotte Hornets' Win Over the Houston Rockets

During his post-trade deadline media availability, Jeff Peterson said that the Charlotte Hornets' young core has 'earned the right to see what it looks like for the rest of the season into the postseason.'

On Thursday night, that core won their eighth-straight game, proving the point of the franchise's lead decision-maker. There's something special brewing with this group

Charlotte dispatched the Houston Rockets with relative ease even though a wrench was thrown into their guard rotation with trade deadline addition Coby White sidelined. These Hornets now own wins against five of the top six teams in the Western Conference -- they can hang with anyone, anywhere right now. Buy stock in this team before it gets too expensive.

1 Highlight of the Night

LaMelo Ball's ridiculous step back three

Charles Lee has been praised for how well-drilled his offense is. The Hornets run a dizzying number of actions, stressing defenses from sideline-to-sideline and baseline-to-halfcourt with an attack perfectly curated to maximize the strength of their star players.

What makes their offense so deadly though, is that even when those actions fail and Charlotte needs someone to bail them out, they have some unguaradble individual talents capable of pulling out shots like this.

Not much you can do to stop the Hornets when they’re running good offense (they are tonight) and their best player can still do this even when the actions stagnate.

Nasty step back from LaMelo pic.twitter.com/3c9B5S21L4
— Matt Alquiza (@malquiza8) February 6, 2026

2 Game-Defining Stats

Reed Sheppard's -12
Charlotte +5 on the offensive glass

The second-year Rocket had a target on his back all night.

Charlotte attacked Sheppard relentlessly, making the svelte guard defend on the perimeter nearly every time down the floor. The Hornets' really started to switch-hunt against Sheppard and Alperen Sengun in the second quarter, and the tactical move proved successful, proven by Sheppard's -12 in the box score and their 32-23 advantage in the period. Plus/minus isn't my favorite way to measure individual impact, but it painted a clear picture of Charlotte's offensive strategy in Houston.

Tonight's contest was strength on strength in terms of the offensive glass.

Houston came into the game with the league's best offensive rebounding percentage (39.0%), and Charlotte boasted the fourth-best (33.3%). In order to slow down the Rockets' sixth ranked offense you have to match their intensity on the boards, and Charlotte did that by imposing their will and grinding Houston's front court down over 48 minutes of relentless activity.

The Hornets beat the Rockets at their own game, decisively winning the battle of the offensive glass, a major reason for the win.

3 Players of the Game

Kon Knueppel: 24 points, four rebounds, two assists, 8/13 shooting, 2/5 from three
Josh Green: 14 points, one rebounds, two assists, four steals, one block, 4/4 shooting
LaMelo Ball: 20 points, six rebounds, four assists, 7/19 shooting, 5/12 from three

Kon Knueppel put up an efficient scoring night while spending a majority of the game guarding Kevin Durant, arguably the most talented scorer to ever touch a basketball one-on-one. Just an absurd two-way performance from the rookie.

Josh Green was so, so good tonight.

Forced into a larger role due to Brandon Miller's foul trouble, Green kept the Hornets rolling on both ends by knocking down every shot he attempted and causing havoc with his unmatchable motor on defense. Green is a winning player in a scaled down role, and Charlotte is seeing that first hand in the Aussie's second season with the team.

LaMelo, still bruised from his head-on collision with Charles Lee on Monday afternoon, continued his stellar play against the Rockets. Ball isn't racking up otherworldly counting stats like he did last season, but his overall impact on Charlotte's recent dominance cannot be overstated.

Ball is the engine to the Hornets' offense, bending the opposition to his will with unlimited range and visionary passing, and both of those outlier, truly elite skills were on full display in their win tonight.

4 Takeaways from the Win

1. Sion James comes through

It's been a rough stretch on offense for Sion James.

Sion airballed a floater late in the second quarter in what felt like an encapsulation of his overall offensive output in recent weeks. Credit to him, though, he didn't stop shooting even though his struggles continued.

James knocked down a pair of three-pointers in the second half, with the second one extending the Hornets' lead to 20 points midway through the fourth quarter, forcing the Rockets' head coach Ime Udoka into calling a timeout and emptying his bench just one possession later.

I'd imagine that Sion breathed a sigh of relief when both of his long-range makes fell softly through the net. He needed those.

2. Tre Mann returns

This wasn't the comeback Mann was hoping for.

After somewhat surprisingly sticking around in Charlotte after the trade deadline, Mann was forced back into action due to the Hornets' flurry of moves on Wednesday and Thursday. It wasn't all bad for Mann, as he pulled down five rebounds and dished out three assists, but his jumper was abysmal in Space City.

Mann shot 1 of 10 from the field and clearly looked like a player who has been iced out on the bench for nearly two months. The Hornets have three more games until the All-Star break, and they'll need Mann to shake off the cobwebs quickly in order to keep their offense afloat until Coby White makes his debut in purple and teal.

3. Ryan Kalkbrenner's stock party

After looking nearly unplayable in the first half of Monday afternoon's win against the New Orleans Pelicans, something clicked for Ryan Kalkbrenner.

In his last six quarters of basketball, Kalkbrenner has been immense for the Hornets, specifically on the defensive end. He racked up six stocks tonight: four steals and two blocks; continuing his push for a well-deserved spot on an All-Rookie team.

Kalkbrenner will inevitably face more growing pains as the season progresses, but Charlotte's lack of moves to address their front court at the trade deadline is a sign of faith in their rookie center.

4. Brandon Miller's timely buckets

Miller picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter, forcing Charles Lee to sit him on the bench for another extended period of time.

With 1:09 left in the quarter, Miller re-entered the contest while LaMelo Ball and Kon Knueppel sat, making the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week Charlotte's go-to offensive option to close the third. He promptly scored seven straight points for the Hornets spanning the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth after getting iced on the bench for nearly 25 minutes of real time.

A professional scorer.

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