Charlotte Hornets: NBA power rankings roundup, week 7 edition

The Charlotte Hornets are heading into week 7 with some momentum after their previous two wins. The Hornets lost two games last week, but they did win two against two high-ranked Eastern conference foes.

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LaMelo Ball and Terry Rozier played well this week. Rozier averaged over 18 points per game last week. However, the Hornets head into this week with Rozier as questionable, since he suffered an ankle injury on Saturday against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Ball played well when Rozier went out with the injury. He finished Saturday’s game with a career-high of 27 points, while also being one assist shy of having a double-double. If Rozier is not 100%, then fans could see Ball get his first career start on Monday night.

On a good note, the Hornets have improved their shooting in their last two games, and they have played better defense. However, Charlotte has continued to allow opposing teams to average 15+ made threes over the past two weeks.

Bleacher Report: 17 (Last Week: 19)

"The Hornets have a net rating of positive-1.7 when Ball is off the court and a negative-3.2 rating when he is on."

ESPN: 18 (Last week: 24)

"Hornets haven’t found much consistency, but Terry Rozier provided some nice offensive punch this week, averaging 21 points over three games."

CBS:  18 (Last week: 19)

"Charlotte lost two games to start the week, but bounced back for big wins over the Pacers and Bucks."

NBA.com: 17 (Last week: 23)

"The Hornets now have wins over four of the six East teams that have winning records. They get their final shot at the Sixers, having lost the first two meetings by a total of 32 points, on Wednesday."

The Hornets finished last week 2-2, but they did end it on a two-game winning streak against two top Eastern Conference teams. Because of their late-week heroics, Charlotte managed to jump up in the power rankings.

Charlotte rose the most on the ESPN power rankings. They were ranked 24th last week, but they ranked 18th this week. Their highest spot on the power rankings was 17, which was given by Bleacher Report.

Many other news outlets offered a lot of praise to Rozier and Ball for their stellar play last week. Gordon Hayward also ended the week with a 27 point game against the Bucks.

The Hornets are currently 9-11 and sit at the 8th spot in the Eastern Conference standings. Charlotte is set to take on the struggling Miami Heat on Monday night. Monday’s game will start another tough week for Charlotte.

In addition to Miami, the Hornets will be taking the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday and the Utah Jazz on Friday. Both teams are in the top-3 of their respective conference.