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For The Charlotte Hornets, Now Comes the Hard Part
The difficulty of this ongoing Charlotte Hornets road trip is about to reach arguably its highest level of the season.
After another heartbreaking loss, 120-119 to the Detroit Pistons, the Charlotte Hornets must continue their five-game road trip. On difficult trips, there are some games that you look at and say, “We should win that one”. That was the Pistons game last night.
However, if there was more time, the Hornets would’ve stolen it after an insane Marco Belinelli buzzer beater attempt. Of course, he didn’t get the shot off in time. Now, the Hornets must look ahead to their next few road games. That’s where the going gets tough.
After leaving Detroit, Charlotte will take on the greatest dynasty of the 21st century and one of the greatest dynasties ever in the San Antonio Spurs. Then, the team travels to Houston to take on a surprisingly good Rockets team led by MVP candidate James Harden.
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This will be a tough two-game stretch with both teams playing extremely well. The Hornets will have to play their best basketball if they are to upset one or both of these teams on the road. However, they may have to do it without the services of Nic Batum.
Batum has played really well over the last few games. He scored 14 points in the 4th quarter of the Hornets last victory, a 123-112 triumph over Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder. However, he sustained an injury in the Pistons game. A hyperextended knee was the diagnosis.
Fortunately, there isn’t any further damage. If there is any perspective, Marvin Williams missed six games with that same injury earlier in the season. Hopefully, Batum won’t miss too much time but his services would be badly needed for these next two games.
Overall, the Spurs and the Rockets have a lot of great talent in Kawhi Leonard and the aforementioned Harden. However, Kemba Walker will have to will his team to victory if Batum is indeed going to miss one or both of these games.
He nearly did against the Pistons scoring 32 points in the loss. For the Charlotte Hornets, these two games will be difficult to win, but with physical and mental toughness with a mix of great defense, they’ll have a chance. We’ll see how Steve Clifford adjusts if Batum misses these games.
