National Basketball Association

Charlotte Hornets Making a Habit of Comeback Performances

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

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Only four games into the season and the Charlotte Hornets have already made comeback games a habit as they always seem to dig themselves an early hole.

In their first four games of the 2016-17 NBA season, the Charlotte Hornets already have two comeback wins of 12+ points. The team seems to get off to a slow start in almost every game and then have to fight their way back into the match. While their comeback performances have been encouraging, it is troubling that they must go down by double-digits first.

Charlotte is 3-1 so far this year with only their season opener being a runaway victory. They were able to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks, 107-96, and at one point led by 24. The Hornets did not trail for a single second in that game but that trend wouldn’t continue for their next three matches.

Since that win, the Queen City team made three double-digit comebacks against the Miami Heat, the Boston Celtics, and the Philadelphia 76ers. The problem with the comebacks isn’t that Charlotte goes down then comes back. The problem is that the Hornets are trailing by nearly insurmountable leads to teams in which they shouldn’t be.

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First, the Heat had control of the game as they held a lead until the fourth quarter. At one point, Miami had a 19 point lead over Charlotte but the Hornets were able to battle back and finally take a lead in the final frame. The game ended in a 97-91 win for Charlotte who deserved it after their incredible comeback. While this was an away game against a divisional rival, the Heat aren’t the same successful team as last season and the Hornets shouldn’t have had the trouble that they did.

In their only loss of the season, the Hornets went down by 14 in their home opener against the Celtics. Boston thoroughly outplayed Charlotte for most of the game for all but a few minutes. Despite the away team going up by 14 in the first quarter, the Hornets slowly fought back and ended up taking the lead early in the fourth quarter. Charlotte had a chance to win the game but Boston ran away with it after the home team expended their energy attempting a comeback.

The most surprising performance was in their last game against the lowly Philadelphia 76ers. The winless side came into the Hive and took a 13 point lead second quarter. Even though the Hornets ended up winning, 109-93, their start was disappointing, to say the least. They righted the ship but Charlotte shouldn’t be down by double-digits to one of the worst teams in the league.

The Charlotte Hornets had a number of double-digits comeback wins last season but it is a bit unnerving to see it continue this year. There are times this season when the team will have to make comebacks but Steve Clifford does not want to make it a trend. They can’t continue to keep going down early in games because sooner or later, it will catch up to them.

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