The Charlotte Hornets have a grueling schedule to close the regular season. Coming off back-to-back games against the Nets and Nuggets, the Swarm play four of their last six games on the road. Playing in New York, Philadelphia, Miami, and Chicago to end the season, the Hornets will have to win the majority of their remaining games to stay in contention for the eighth seed in the East.
With a win against the Knicks on Wednesday night, the Swarm will secure a place in the play-in tournament, which should garner a sigh of relief. While it is nice to be locked into the single-elimination tournament, it would be that much sweeter to snag the eighth seed and guarantee two win-or-go-home games.
When looking at the schedules the rest of the way, it will be a challenge for Charlotte to overtake Brooklyn in the standings. The Nets have six games left in the regular season and should be favored in five of them. This means that the Swarm will have to either finish out the regular season perfectly or hope that the Nets choke a few games down the stretch.
Taking a peek at Charlotte’s schedule, the Hornets have the aforementioned Knicks up first. Then they have Philly, Miami, Orlando, Chicago, and Washington. The Hornets are probably going to be favored in three of those six games, which does not bode well for their play-in seeding chances.
Philly, Miami, or Chicago could choose to rest players to help the Hornets shoot up the standings. No one wants to play Brooklyn at this point, so if these teams can help the Hornets along and aid their quest to lock in the eighth seed, Charlotte might be able to sneak a few of these difficult road games. If the Hornets can go 5-1 over their last six games, they have a great shot at competing for the coveted eighth seed.
Either way, it is going to be a difficult journey going forward. With the playoffs around the corner, the NBA season is about to get really interesting. Which teams will vie for positioning? And which teams will come up clutch? Only time will tell.