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Buzz City Stings: Charlotte Hornets Still Off to a Great Start Despite Loss to Cavs

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Welcome to Buzz City Stings, Swarm and Sting’s daily roundup of the best Charlotte Hornets’ stories from around the web.

Buzz City Stings is your daily destination for the latest and best news from around the internet about the Charlotte Hornets. Despite the Hornets disappointing loss to LeBron James and the Cavs, they are still off to a great 6-3 start, which is thanks in large part to some great coaching from Steve Clifford. Two awkward plays highlight the team’s unfortunate result against Cleveland.

Frye and Cavs’ tactics Take Down Kemba and the Hornets

“As far as the problem-causing/problem-solving aspect of the Cavaliers, I saw something Sunday I was curious if other teams will try to employ going forward: The Cavaliers trapped point guard Kemba Walker as aggressively as any team this season.” (CharlotteObserver.com)

Channing Frye scored 11 of his team-high 20 points in the fourth quarter as he helped take Cleveland defeat Charlotte. Also, this note from Rick Bonnell pointed out the tactics employed by Tyronn Lue and the Cavs against Kemba Walker. While many teams don’t have the capability, versatility, or talent to do what the Cavaliers did, this could be the key to opponents stopping Kemba going forward. It will be interesting to see.

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Great Coaching Leading the Hot Start

“Steve Clifford has been a great coach for years now and this should be the time that he finally gets recognized. Charlotte does not have a team full of stars but Clifford coaches them well and they play hard and smart. This allows them to be in every game.” (isportsweb.com)

This article highlights the Hornets’ culture and style of play that Steve Clifford has developed over the past few years. Aside from Kemba, who is becoming a star, and maybe Nicolas Batum, who they traded for, this team was made up of draft picks and players that were outcasted from their previous teams. Charlotte has developed a winning mentality and players have bought into what the coaching staff is selling. This may seem irrelevant but not many teams in the NBA have the culture that this organization has developed.

Two Shaqtin Nominees for Charlotte

“However, the Hornets really didn’t help themselves with some clumsy plays in the first half. Their lead could have been much stronger had they not produced two brilliant contenders for this week’s edition of Shaqtin a fool.” (givemesport.com)

Here’s a look at the first Shaqtin play where Marvin Williams and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist fall over a downed Kevin Love, who eventually gets the offensive rebound. Here is the second one where 7’1 center Spencer Hawes blew a wide open dunk at the end of the first half. These two plays may be comical at the moment but at the end of the game, these are viewed as missed opportunities. Things could’ve gone differently if Charlotte grabbed the rebound and Hawes finished the easy dunk.

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