California road trip success could be a turning point for the Charlotte Hornets
After a surprisingly successful West Coast road trip, the Charlotte Hornets are looking to right the ship and turn their season around.
The Charlotte Hornets entered their four-game California road trip with a 2-12 record outside of the Queen City and losers of 13 of their last 17 games. The expectation was for the team to win maybe one game during the road trip and they would be lucky to come back home with a split.
They shocked their fan base when they went 3-1 topped off with a statement victory over the defending NBA Champions in the Golden State Warriors. The successful road trip could mark a turning point in the Hornets’ season if they can continue to play well going forward.
Before the four-game road trip began, Charlotte only had two wins away from home to their name. The Hornets picked up more road wins during that eight-day stretch than they did in the first two months of the season.
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The Hornets started off the California road trip against the Warriors in Oakland and although Golden State was without Stephen Curry, most expected Charlotte to get blown out. Instead, Dwight Howard had one of the best games of his career putting up 29 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists as Stephen Silas’ side stole one from the defending champions, 111-100.
The team had a bit of a hangover as they fell to the Los Angeles Clippers, 98-106, on New Year’s Eve in their next outing but they bounced right back with back to back blowout victories over the Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The back to back wins to end the road trip were the first consecutive victories Charlotte had since November 20-22. They had gone over a month without winning back to back games.
Even though Charlotte seemingly erased their road struggles within a four-game stretch, there is still a lot of work to be done going forward and there is no guarantee that this road trip wasn’t just a fluke.
Looking ahead, Charlotte has the weakest schedule of any NBA team for the remainder of the season after having the toughest during the first few months of the year. (ESPN) With the team finally getting healthy and finding their groove on the road, there’s a realistic chance that the Hornets can turn things around and sneak into the playoffs.
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We’ll have to wait and see if the Charlotte Hornets can use the confidence they gained on the road trip as momentum to string together some wins and get back into the playoff picture. There was little reason to believe in the team before the road trip but after, hope is back up in the Queen City.