Charlotte Hornets: 3 takeaways in win vs. Indiana Pacers

Charlotte Hornets takeaways: Gordon Hayward’s health will matter… a lot

It was something that we already knew entering the season but after seeing how much he impacted the game on Wednesday, the Hornets have to hope that Gordon Hayward stays healthy as long as possible this year.

Last season when Hayward was injured, Charlotte fell apart after floating around the fourth seed.

Hayward is a former all-star, a true veteran leader and can still score 30 points on any given night.

Against the Pacers, Hayward struggled offensively to start the game and it was noticeable how different the Hornets were as a team. Even though Terry Rozier wasn’t playing, Charlotte needed Hayward to get going and once he did, it was game-changing.

In the fourth quarter, Hayward scored 13 of his 27 points and helped the Hornets hold on anytime Indiana would take the lead.

With his basketball IQ and ability to shoot and also do it in the clutch, if Charlotte doesn’t have Hayward, they frankly aren’t a playoff team. Yes, LaMelo Ball is great and Terry Rozier is solid but Hayward is the glue that puts this team one step ahead.

It’s possible we see Hayward’s minutes limited to help prevent injury but he played 35 minutes on Wednesday, which was tied for the team lead.

By the way! We started a new competition on Twitter. Whoever correctly guesses the highest scorer for the Hornets in a given game (with the closest point total) gets a shout in the postgame piece. Here’s the result for the game against Indiana.