Marco Belinelli has caught fire at the right time for the Charlotte Hornets as his play in March has helped the team make a late playoff push.
Much like the Charlotte Hornets, Marco Belinelli’s season has been up and down. Although he has had some rough patches, the Italian has arguably been one of the most consistent scorers off of the bench this year. When the team’s needed it most, Marco has stepped up in March.
Charlotte’s chances of making the playoffs aren’t great but they have helped themselves out a bit by going 8-7 in the month of March. Considering the fact that they did themselves no favors in February (3-8) and January (4-11), this month has been much better for them. That is thanks in large part to the outstanding play of Belinelli.
While he has had better stretches earlier in the season, the 31-year old has produced his most impactful play this month. As a second unit player, Charlotte’s not expecting him to go off every night but by having a few games where he leads the team in scoring or is the second leading scorer, it hugely benefits the team as a whole. That boost off of the bench is needed more often as Kemba Walker is forced to carry the Hornets on most nights.
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Belinelli is only averaging 10.7 points per game in the month of March but a closer look at individual games shows how valuable he’s been when called upon. He’s recorded three 20+ point games in the month after only having one such game in the previous five months of the season. Two of those 20-point games resulted in victories while the one loss came at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Despite the defeat, Marco dropped 22 points on 7-12 shooting which helped keep the Hornets in the game against the defending champions. While not every game has been great in March, it is clear that Belinelli has taken his green light to a whole new level. He is pulling up from 25+ feet as his confidence is the best it’s been in some time.
Not only has he stepped up this month but he’s done so against some of the better teams in the league by dropping 20+ against the Cavs and the Toronto Raptors. The Hornets need every win they can get as they fight for the postseason and with Marco playing at the top of his game, it gives the team another much-needed scorer.
Here’s a look at Belinelli’s 21-point game against the Raptors:
He also had this monster dunk against Cleveland which is the only one he’s had this season.
Charlotte may still miss out on the playoffs despite these breakout games from Belinelli but he may save his spot/role with the team for next season. It will be interesting to see if he can keep up his great shooting going forward. The Hornets have lacked a consistent scorer off of the bench like they had in Jeremy Lin last season but maybe Marco can be that type of guy to close out the year.
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Aside from Kemba’s 51 20+ point games, only Frank Kaminsky (11) and Nicolas Batum (14) have more such games than Belinelli’s four this season. Marco’s three 20-point games in the month of March is more than Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (2), Marvin Williams (3), Cody Zeller (1) and Jeremy Lamb (2) have on the entire season. It’s pretty safe to say that Steve Clifford has unleashed the Italy international.