A little more than two weeks ago, the Charlotte Hornets blew out the Knicks to move above .500 for the first time this season. The win was the fourth-straight for Charlotte and looked to be a part of a turnaround for the team after a slow start.
Since that game, though, the Hornets have lost five of six games, the lone win in that coming after a wild fourth-quarter rally on Sunday. Monday’s loss to the Magic extended the losing skid as another late rally made the final margin more respectable after trailing by double digits for much of the second half.
Despite the struggles, head coach James Borrego is not necessarily considering a lineup change.
“I don’t have an answer for you right now,” he said when asked if he would be tinkering with the lineup. “I mean, I’m going to evaluate and look at it. Obviously, there are other options we can go to but bottom line, we just have to play better. It doesn’t matter, I guess we can tinker with the lineup, but guys got to step up and play better. That’s the bottom line.
“I’ll always look at the lineup, see if there’s some tweaking, some changes we can make but overall, we just have to play better in general
On the season, the Hornets’ starting lineup of Devonte’ Graham, Terry Rozier, Gordon Hayward, P.J. Washington and Bismack Biyombo have played 183 minutes and have a net rating of -8.6. Of lineups that have played at least 150 minutes this season, only two have a worse net rating than the Hornets’ starters.
During the current losing skid, that starting lineup has a net rating of +0.4 in 79 minutes together. Only one other lineup that has played at least 10 minutes together in that span has a worse rating.
The likeliest player to insert into the starting lineup would be Cody Zeller, who has found his groove alongside LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges since his return from injury. Those two names will also be oft-discussed with Ball seen as the future of the franchise and Bridges one of the best players on the team this year.
The Hornets will have a day off to ponder the decision before another two-game mini-series at home against the Pacers on Wednesday and Friday.