Buzz City Beat: Charlotte Hornets will continue to grind, Monk’s shot selection
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For the second time in four games, rookie Dwayne Bacon scored 15 points off of the bench while Willy Hernangomez grabbed his first double-double since joining the Queen City team during his first start. (Box Score) In this edition of Buzz City Beat, we look at the Charlotte Hornets‘ mindset as the season comes to an end, Malik Monk‘s questionable shot selection and the Memphis Grizzlies being embarrassed.
Charlotte will keep trying to win games (Sports.Yahoo.com)
"The Charlotte Hornets stopped playing games that mattered a while ago. But while he enters every season craving that postseason stage, Walker has never been one to skimp on his effort just because the payoff isn’t coming. “It’s tough. It’s tough. Not being there. I hate being home watching it,” Walker recently told Yahoo Sports. “But we still got to grind, man.”"
Although the Hornets haven’t yet been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention this year, it is an inevitability as they have less than a 1% chance to make the postseason. (FiveThirtyEight.com) They are six games back of the eighth-seeded Milwaukee Bucks with only nine games left in the regular season. Still, the team has made it clear that they aren’t going down without a fight.
With little to play for, Charlotte’s not tanking and they are trying their best to win games even though they may be seen as meaningless at this point in the year. Dwight Howard put up only the second 30-30 game in the past 36 years while Kemba Walker dropped 46 points with a franchise-record 10 three’s in only three quarters. They will fall short of their goal of making the playoffs but it looks like they will compete until the final game of the season which is more than you could say for most of the team in a similar position.
1 thing to not like: Malik Monk’s shot selection (ESPN.com)
"Has anyone told Monk you don’t get extra points for step-back jumpers? This isn’t springboard diving — there is no degree-of-difficulty bonus. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a player — perhaps not even young J.R. Smith, Monk’s obvious NBA soulmate — who loves step-back jumpers so much."
To say that Monk’s shot selection has been, at times, questionable is an understatement. There’s a reason why he’s only shooting 32.1% from the field this season which happens to be the second-lowest mark among rookies who have played in at least 15 games this year. (NBA.com) His 31% clip from deep is also way too low for someone who was considered a great shooting prospect coming out of college.
Malik was able to get away with taking bad shots while at Kentucky because he was an exceptional talent but in the NBA, it’s a different story. Monk has the ability to create good shots so once he becomes more comfortable, he should get a better feel for the game and take less contested/bad shots like stepbacks. It will just take time for him to grow but there will and have been plenty of growing pains.
Tyreke Evans says the Grizzlies were embarrassed by the Hornets (CommercialAppeal.com)
"Grizzlies guard Tyreke Evans after historic loss: “They (the Hornets) were out there just laughing. It was embarrassing. The whole thing.”"
On one side, Charlotte had arguably their best game of an otherwise disappointing season. They spent most, if not all, of the fourth quarter celebrating by laughing on the bench while cheering on bench players and two-way players Marcus Paige and Mangok Mathiang who each scored their first career NBA baskets.
Next: Ranking Hornets players by their college careers
On the other hand, Memphis has lost 22 of their last 23 games and even though they are tanking, it’s got to be tough on the players, especially when you’re losing by 60+. That’s unacceptable in the NBA and you’ve got to feel for a depleted Grizzlies’ squad. Tyreke Evans obviously wasn’t happy and neither was their interim head coach who called out the young players.