As the Hornets polished off their comeback win in the final minutes against the Kings. it was not just a memorable comeback but another bullet point on a growing list of nights just like Monday. While every night might not include a 19-6 run to close the game, Charlotte is repeatedly owning clutch minutes time and time again this season.
Against Sacramento, it was Hayward and Rozier combining to score or assist the final 20 points of the game for the Hornets. Hayward’s monster dunk over De’Aaron Fox gave Charlotte its first lead of the night at 112-111 with 1:33 left. Rozier scored the next five points before a pair of Hayward free throws and a Cody Martin dunk, assisted by Hayward, closed out the win.
“We’re very confident in those moments,” Hornets head coach James Borrego said. “Our guys are very poised. They’re attentive. They know what we’re trying to accomplish and they’re talking it out as much as I am. I’m coming into huddles with the strategy, the scheme, the lineup, but they at this point, they’re already talking about it, which is great for me. Before I even enter the huddle, they’re talking about what’s about to happen and what we’re looking for.
“On the offensive end, I’ll try to help them with a play on that end, but defensively, they’re locked in. And I thought they were great tonight again. Nothing easy…We’re extremely confident in those moments and we just got to continue that. There’s no panic.”
A look at the advanced stats in clutch situations for teams in the NBA this season immediately induces wide eyes and double takes. The NBA defines clutch situations as games within five points with five minutes or less left in the fourth quarter.
Following Monday’s game, the Hornets’ net ratings in those situations is a staggering 57.9 The Sixers are in second at 26.0, an impressive figure in its own right. The difference between the top-ranked Hornets and Philadelphia in second is the same as the difference between the Sixers and New Orleans in 17th.
The 53 clutch minutes for Charlotte ranks 25th in the league and would suggest inflated numbers due to a small sample size. But the Hornets have been in 18 games that have had clutch situations, indicating instead that those numbers are not an aberration.
As opposed to one or two games where the Hornets were executing at a high level and riding those performances to the league-best rating, Charlotte is instead finding itself in those moments across multiple games and is repeatedly performing.
“We’ve been in them already this year multiple times,” Hayward said after Monday’s win. “And so it’s good for us to talk about on the court because sometimes, it’s one thing for the coach to be there and for him to see certain things but he can’t see everything on the court at all times. There’s certain things that I think, as players, we can help each other with, if we see something and kind of go from there. It’s definitely something that I don’t think you can teach.
“These are experiences you can’t teach. You got to kind of go through them to learn them and another good one tonight. I wish we would have played better than we did so we’re not in that as much but certainly just proud of our effort just to find a way to win.”
The key for the Hornets’ late-game success is that there is no one player to key in on for defenses. Hayward and Rozier took control on Monday, but seemingly every player on the roster has at least one moment to point to this season of a big play late in games.
Devonte’ Graham had a long list of big shots last season with the Hornets and ranks second in the league in individual clutch net rating among players with at least 10 games played. P.J. Washington knocked down a late 3-pointer in the Hornets memorable win in Sacramento before the All-Star break that set up Malik Monk’s game-winning and-one.
Monk himself also had a game-tying 3-pointer in a comeback win in Miami this year. LaMelo Ball had a pair of finishes at the rim late in a win against the Suns in Phoenix.
Rozier had a game-winner against the Warriors in Charlotte. Hayward did the same against the Magic in Orlando early in the season.
Aligning with having multiple players capable and willing of stepping up in big moments is the fact the Hornets lead the league in assist ratio in clutch situations and are first by some margin in assists per 48 minutes.
“A lot of it has to do with just trust, trusting each other when we’re out there on the floor and making sure we’re not afraid for anyone to make those plays,” Cody Martin said. “We all know our job. Sometimes we might be on, sometimes we might not be but I think for us as a group, it does take the effort for us to just be locked in the entire game and especially at the end of the game, you can tell that we really hone in on those things that we need to do.
“Whether it’s getting stops, whether it’s making shots, whether it’s a big rebound, whatever the case is,” he continued. “Ultimately, I just think that we have a lot of fun playing, playing together, trusting each other while we’re out there on the floor and just making sure that we all are basically on a string in terms of whether we’re offense or defense and just trusting each other you know trusting the next guy that’s in the game and just playing as hard as we can. Good things happen when you play hard.”
“We got a lot of fearless guys on the team,” Hayward added. “Guys that are not afraid of the moment. I think we’ve had…like three game-winners this year and all three (from) different guys. I mean that’s huge to have different guys being able to step up to have those types of weapons. It builds confidence to for your team when it’s not like you have to rely on one guy.
“We have multiple guys that can attack and, and hit shots in the clutch and we certainly need them especially as we get down here. The games are getting a little tighter as we get closer and closer and closer to the playoffs and so these are all experiences that are great for our team.”
The Hornets are 13-5 in their 18 games with clutch situations, a big factor in them sitting at 20-18 on the year and in sixth in the Eastern Conference, trailing the Celtics in fifth only on the conference record tiebreaker. Considering just four games separate Miami in the fourth seed and Toronto in 11th, Charlotte’s late-game execution has helped them rise toward the top of that crowded field.
As Hayward noted, the later the season goes, the more weight the games hold. That added pressure likely with matter little to these Hornets, who have proven time and time again that they’re ready for those moments.