The Charlotte Hornets sit at 7th in the Eastern Conference at the quarter mark of the NBA season with an 11-10 record. According to John Schuhmann of NBA.com, this gives the Hornets a 63% chance to make the playoffs.
Last season did not go how Charlotte Hornets fans would have wanted it to. Last year, at the quarter mark the Hornets record stood at 8-12. They endured a six-game losing streak at the start of November, which would end up being their longest losing streak of the season. But, this year has Hornets fans more optimistic about our Playoff chances.
As we all know, we would go on to finish 36-46 and finish 10th in the Eastern Conference, missing the Playoffs. That 8-12 record last season put us at a 26% chance to make the Playoffs. This year? Only three wins more, 20 games through the year boosts our chances for the Playoffs up to 63%.
John Schuhmann, over at NBA.com created a chart with win totals/playoff chances percentage for every NBA team over the last 15-full 82 game seasons after the 20 game mark. This was included in his Week 7 Power Rankings (Hornets ranked 18th, after losses to OKC and Atlanta) posted on November 26th.
In the past 15 seasons, 24 teams have had ten wins through the first twenty games of the season. Of those 24 teams, 15 of them have ended up in the Playoffs. Obviously, this season has been different than last year. The young core of this Charlotte Hornets team, and consistent play of the bench unit, on top of Kemba Walkers‘ MVP-like start to the campaign obviously has Buzz City feeling optimistic.
Imagine if we had pulled off some of those very close games, our chances would be even higher. Twenty-one teams in Eastern Conference have had 11 wins at the 20-game mark, 16 have made the Playoffs boosting Playoff basketball to a 76% chance.
Two more wins? Almost guaranteed. Sixty-two teams over the last 15 full NBA seasons, at the 20 game mark have had 12 or more wins. 57 of those 62 teams made the Playoffs. That is 92%. If we had beaten the 76ers in OT, beat the Hawks last week and had actually shown up in Cleveland, we would be looking at a 92% chance at Playoff basketball.
The numbers get a little less possible in the Western Conference. Ninety-two teams have had 12 or more wins at the 20-game mark, and 87 of them made the Playoffs (92%). For 10-win teams like us, only nine teams have made the Playoffs (23 teams/39%).
Numbers aside, you can never predict what will happen as the rest of the 82-game season plays out. That is why we love the NBA. All we can hope for is continued success for the men in Teal & Purple and continue to work our way up the Eastern Conference and finish in that top-8 when the season ends.
Yes, we currently sit at 11-10 after 21 games. But, after 20 games its nice to see how we stand at making the Playoffs. Hopefully, we can continue to win games that we should and compete with the big dogs in the Eastern Conference.