current location:HOME > Sports News > Basketball Hub > Text content

What's the buzz with the Charlotte Hornets' defense?

nqajqrqw7months ago (05-19)Basketball Hub90

It's December 14, and Charlotte Hornets head coach SteveClifford has already had enough.

Normally a willing interviewee and giving orator, Clifford setsthe stage early.

"You don't have to ask questions," he says, before laying downthe law for nearly two full minutes.

The heart of the message: The Hornets won't win games — andcertainly nothing of consequence — if they don't nail the littlethings. And they'll have no shot if they don't nail the big thing:Defense.

"We are playing no defense, not one guy. There's no brightspot," Clifford says.

"We don't run back on defense. We don't guard the ball. Ourpick-and-roll stuff — all stuff that was good. I think we were ashigh as 12th or 13th in defense about 10 games ago, and we're rightback where we started: Ground Zero, where all we want to be is,"Let's try to outscore the other team." It doesn't work that way."

Quotes don't really do it justice — you can watch the wholething here — but Clifford was right on all accounts. Well,mostly all accounts.

Through Dec. 14, the Hornets ranked 26th in half-court defenseper Cleaning The Glass. Opponents generated 1.083 points perpossession (PPP) on trips featuring a drive against the Hornets,the worst mark in the NBA. Only five teams allowed more points on aper-possession basis than the Hornets when defendingpick-and-rolls.

The lone bright spotwasthe transitiondefense, ranking fifth in PPP allowed (1.165) and second intransition frequency allowed (13.7% of possessions). Honestly, itmade sense for Clifford to be paranoid overseeing any slippage inthat area, considering how woeful everything else hadbeen.

Fast forward a few months, and we're singing a differenttune.

Share with friends:

“What's the buzz with the Charlotte Hornets' defense?” ofrelated articles

Lakers’ LeBron James, Anthony Davis catching fire ahead of NBA playoffs

The Los Angeles Lakers arecurrently the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference with a record of41-32. They are also one of the conference's most polariz...

2024 Olympics Basketball Tournament Draw: Team USA grouped with Serbia

2024 Olympics Basketball Tournament Draw: Team USA grouped with Serbia

The best basketball teams in theworld now know their opponents in this year’s Paris Olympics Gamesafter the groups were determined in the Olympic Bask...

Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker emerge as candidates to join Team USA’s core

USA Men’s Basketball squad forthe Paris Olympics is starting to take shape.According to Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic, Boston Celticsg...

Grizzlies rout Mavericks without Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr.

Even without stars Ja Morant andJaren Jackson Jr., the Memphis Grizzlies routed the DallasMavericks 120-103 Tuesday night on the road at American Airl...

Clippers' Paul George fined $35,000 for public criticism of NBA refs

Los Angeles Clippers forward PaulGeorge has been fined $35,000 for public criticism of theofficiating, it was announced today by Joe Dumars, Executive...

Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins fined $25,000 for criticizing refs

Memphis Grizzlies head coach TaylorJenkins has been fined $25,000 forpublic criticism of theofficiating, it was announced today by Joe Dumars, Executi...