The Charlotte Hornets opened the season at home in emotional fashion on Wednesday. The franchise had a big off season going back to their roots and going back to the Hornets which is an exciting transition for a franchise looking to build off of their successful season last year. In a game that seemed out of reach Kemba Walker continued to amaze every basketball fan by channeling his UCONN days to his some clutch shots that kept The Hornets in the game and eventually hitting the game winning two pointer with five seconds left in overtime to give the Hornets the 108-106 victory.
The Hornets got off to a solid start in the first quarter up by one at the end, but things went all downhill from there when Milwaukee took a 57-46 lead at halftime a lead that would eventually turn into 74-50 as time progressed. Lance Stephenson struggled missing his first six shots, but he got going after halftime making the extra pass, penetrating, and making quite a few hustle plays to help gain possessions. Stephenson was bothered by a injury suffered in pre season to his groin which was very noticeable towards the end of the game where he had to gut out a few plays that came up huge for The Hornets.
As the fourth quarter went on The Hornets chipped away at The Bucks lead which Milwaukee lost its way where simply no one could score not even #2 overall pick Jabari Parker who had 8 pts on 3 of 9 shooting. With Parker struggling Brandon Knight and Khris Middleton were really the only consistent scorers after halftime. Which seemed difficult to do for Milwaukee considering they were held to 17 pts in the fourth quarter to Charlotte’s 35 pts. Lance Stephenson finally got going on both ends of the floor and Kemba Walker has yet to take over. With The Bobcats down three with 6.1 seconds left Walker drove down the court with one thing in mind and that was to drill that tying three point which he did.
https://youtu.be/tAMW9RFj4dI
Walker continued the clutch trend in overtime by hitting this gem:
https://youtu.be/7sVQQLaLkjI
Lance Stephenson’s huge dunk really got him going and it sparked The Hornets comeback and it no doubt turned the tables on Milwaukee. Now I don’t expect Milwaukee to struggle this badly scoring the ball with a guy like O.J. Mayo and Rookie Jabari Parker who will struggle at times this year, but we will see flashes of what he will eventually be. The Charlotte Hornets move to a big win at home they’ll take on Memphis this Saturday which should be a good inside battle between Al Jefferson and Marc Gasol. The Milwaukee Bucks start the season at 0-1 and they’ll face Philadelphia on Friday a chance for them to bounce back from a tough loss on the road.
