Hornets knew it was when — not if — COVID would take a bite out of the roster
The Charlotte Hornets saw this coming. They just had no idea when.
They saw rosters for the Washington Wizards and the Dallas Mavericks get decimated by COVID-19 for a week or more earlier this season. Center Cody Zeller said Friday every Hornet was mindful that their turn was inevitable.
The Hornets lost three rotation players to coronavirus-related protocols. They beat the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, and might have prevailed Sunday as well until two starters suffered injuries.
The standings will say the San Antonio Spurs beat them by 12. But it’s no coincidence all of the Spurs’ 12-point margin was achieved in the fourth quarter. What was left of Charlotte’s roster was utterly exhausted from the first 36 minutes.
“They competed tonight. I can live with that,” Hornets coach James Borrego said. “I’m not trying to make excuses, (but) our guys are doing what they can. Under the circumstances, I give our guys a ton of credit.”
Those circumstances were daunting. Starter P.J .Washington and reserves Caleb and Cody Martin are still quarantined under NBA health-and-safety protocols. Beyond that, leading scorer Gordon Hayward missed the Spurs game with a sore lower back and starting guard Devonte Graham left the game in the third quarter with a left leg injury.
Eight was not enough
All that injury and illness trimmed the available Hornets down to eight. Effectively, it was seven because Borrego clearly doesn’t believe second-round rookie Nick Richards is ready to play when a game’s result is still in doubt.
The exhaustion of those left was palpable: When Miles Bridges left the game in the fourth quarter, he all but doubled over briefly in obvious fatigue. Borrego played Jalen McDaniels — fresh off a call-up from the G-League bubble outside Orlando, Fla. — for 25 minutes.
Malik Monk saw opportunity and grabbed hard, scoring 23 points and making five of his six 3-point attempts. But Monk appreciates how awkward this is. Friday, when the Hornets first suspected a possible COVID-19 outbreak, the players sat in their cars for 90 minutes in the Spectrum Center loading dock, awaiting word who could play and who might be sick.
That’s the NBA in 2021.
“It’s tough on us. But next man up, that’s what we prepare for,” said Monk, whose preseason was disrupted by a COVID-19 diagnosis.
“That’s what everyone in the NBA is prepared for, as long as it’s like these times. The people that don’t normally get time, it’s their turn to show what they can do — with the Hornets or with every other team.”
A weekend of improvisation
The Hornets won a game Friday with no morning shootaround, virtually no pre-game meeting and entering the court eight minutes before tipoff.
Sunday, the pre-game routine was normal, but losing Hayward and Graham were huge blows to a team that can’t just overwhelm opponents with talent.
If any good came of Sunday, it was verification that the development program is working. The Hornets are meticulous that everything the G-League Swarm does mimics the Hornets: Systems, terminology, priorities all identical, with a Hornets assistant coach, Jay Hernandez, filling in as Swarm coach in the bubble.
That McDaniels was gone for two weeks, yet looked sufficiently synced that Borrego could play him 25 minutes Sunday, shows something is working.
“The synergy’s there, the consistency between the programs is there,” Borrego said. “The consistent communication between the G League and our program allows something like that to happen.”
Sunday was exhausting and deflating. At least something positive survived.
This story was originally published February 15, 2021 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Hornets knew it was when — not if — COVID would take a bite out of the roster."
