The Charlotte Hornets are sitting at 2-1, but the early read on that record is messy. They escaped Brooklyn by a sliver, got hammered by Atlanta, then flipped the script with a win over Miami after coughing up a 21-point fourth-quarter lead. That kind of start doesn’t offer many clean answers.
Washington brings its own intrigue into the matchup. This is not the group that dropped 26 of its final 27 games last season.
The Wizards now have a dangerous All-Star-caliber pairing in Trae Young and Anthony Davis, and Young has opened the year as the league leader in assists. Davis, meanwhile, has long been a problem for Charlotte on both ends.
Even with June’s No. 1 overall pick, AJ Dybantsa, still waiting to debut, Washington has enough offensive pieces to matter, and the team shares the Hornets’ play-in ambitions. With both clubs still sorting themselves out, this one has the feel of a tight game that could turn on star power late.
Washington gets the nod there with the stronger top-end talent in the current setup.
Charlotte, though, has already shown some fight. After taking that 47-point beating in the home opener, the Hornets answered with a much stronger performance against Miami, a response that said plenty about their ability to absorb a punch and keep moving. Brandon Miller was a big part of that turnaround, and after finally seeing shots fall, there’s a sense he could keep rolling.
Still, there are real concerns on the Charlotte side. The Hornets are dealing with injuries, and the available group can disappear in rough shooting stretches. Miller put up a decent stat line against the Heat, but he still needed 29 attempts to get there, going 10/29 from the field.
In the end, the setting matters too. This is a Wizards home game and an NBA Cup matchup, a type of spot that has given Charlotte trouble over the years.
The Hornets have enough depth to stay in the fight against a surprisingly deep Washington roster on paper, but not enough to finish the job. The call here is that Charlotte keeps it close, then comes up short.
In Other News...
Dennis Schroder Is Giving Hornets Fans A Reason To Believe
Dennis Schroder wasted little time giving Charlotte something to feel good about, scoring 25 points in the Hornets 115-110 win over the Miami Heat. It was the kind of performance that fits the early tone of this new season for a team still trying to establish an identity, and it came from a veteran guard who arrived from Cleveland this offseason with a reputation for fitting into a lot of different places.
Schroders career has taken him through 12 NBA teams, and Charlotte is already seeing why his presence can matter in a tight game. The Hornets are 2-1 after the win, and with Washington up next, there is at least a growing sense that this group can compete when the pace picks up and the shots start falling. [Read more 🡒]
Brandon Miller Now Carries A Big Test For This Shorthanded Hornets Team
Charlottes current homestand has already shown how much the offense can swing from one night to the next, and Brandon Miller has been right at the center of it. After a quiet scoring night in a loss to Atlanta, he answered with 34 points in a win over Miami, a reminder of how much the Hornets lean on his shot-making when the tempo picks up and the margin for error shrinks.
The next stop brings another shorthanded opponent in Washington, but Charlottes own injury situation is what makes this feel like a real test. With several regulars unavailable, the Hornets will need Miller to carry more of the load again, not just as a scorer but as the player most capable of stabilizing the group when the rotation is thinned out and the game turns into a grind. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets 2-1 Start Comes With One Worry Fans Cant Ignore
A 2-1 start is the kind of opening that usually quiets a few early-season doubts, but Charlotte has not exactly looked like a team easing into things. The Hornets have banked their first two wins by narrow margins, and the underlying numbers have been less flattering than the record suggests. Even with a winning mark heading into the second week of the NBA season, there are already signs that the margin for error is thin.
The bigger concern is what happens once opponents start forcing Charlotte to play from behind or sustain possessions against stronger teams. The Hornets offense and defense have both lagged early, and the injury situation has not helped, with Coby White, Kon Knueppel and Grant Williams all unavailable. For now, the wins are there, but the tests ahead will tell much more about how real this start is. [Read more 🡒]