At the bank this morning the teller was talking about movies and asked if I’d seen Sinners. When I said I had, she asked what I thought of it.
For better or worse, our expectations not only shape our realities, they often become them. I haven’t met anyone who’s seen Sinners and not enjoyed it; I said I’d loved it. Her face fell. She had not. I asked her why. She said she’d loved it up until the vampires. She didn’t understand “the point” of them. I asked if she’d known it was a vampire movie when she watched it. She hadn’t.
“A late March game in Charlotte” entered the NBA lexicon long ago for the league’s Lucifer franchise, i.e. the fallen. In 1988 Charlotte and Miami joined the league, followed a year later by Orlando and Minnesota. The Hornets built up talent their first four seasons, then were a winning team six straight, winning 50+ three times in a four-year span. If you weren’t alive then, you wouldn’t believe what a homecourt atmosphere The Hive was. One of the louder buildings in the Association. And they weren’t just home cooking. Guess who ended the 1996 Bulls’ 44-game home winning streak.
After last night’s 114-103 impressive Hornet win over the Knicks, “a late March game in Charlotte” may soon go the way of “literally” and get a second definition that contradicts the first. This year’s Hive looks nothing like last year’s team. Or the year before that. Or . . . well, this is quicker: the last time Charlotte made the playoffs, the retired Malcolm Brogdon was in college. The last time they won a playoff series, LeBron James played for St. Vincent-St. Mary High. Enough with the then. Get with the now.
Sometimes it’s not about who you are, but who you know. This is not one of those times. Who the Hornets are today looks nothing like who they were a year ago. Their top -five in minutes then: Miles Bridges, Josh Green, LaMelo Ball, Nick Smith Jr. and Tidjane Salaün. This year: Kon Kneuppel\*, Bridges, Ball, Moussa Diabaté and Brandon Miller. Green and Salaün are down to ninth and 11th. Smith Jr. is down on the end of the Laker bench.
\*I know it’s “Knueppel.” But I find it charming when a player smacks you in the face so unexpectedly with their potential for greatness that you only mess up the spelling once before it’s seared in your mind. When I was drafting the [Kristaps Porzingis Know The Prospect](/2015/6/3/8662977/know-the-prospects-kirstaps-porzingis), I initially thought it was “Kirstaps.” Still like that better.
After Jalen Brunson scored on New York’s opening set, the Knicks trailed the rest of the game. This wasn’t sudden death so much as strangulation: the home team got the better position and steadily squeezed the air out of the visitors. The Hornets put up 65 in the first half and held the Knicks to 48 in the second, dominating the glass to an extent I can’t remember the Knicks being bossed, particularly not with Mitchell Robinson playing.
Never hurts when you luck into a goldmine, which Charlotte has with Knueppel. Combining Glen Rice’s height with Kemba Walker’s range and Dell Curry’s quick trigger, the rookie carries the aura of a 10-year vet. Fellow first-year Ryan Kalkbrenner is feckin’ yuge, even for a center. They’re young and alive and have no pressure and tons of fun. The past two months they’re 23-6. Now, Knicks fan, the bad news.
The Knickerbockers will end up second or third in the East, meaning they’ll face whoever’s sixth or seventh, which could be Atlanta, Toronto, Philadelphia, Orlando, Miami . . . or Charlotte. In 2023 the Knicks and Cavs were locked into the 4-5 seeds for so long I remember racking my brain for ways to write about them as the playoffs neared; so much had already been said. As we enter the final weeks of this season, the possibilities in the East are staggeringly vast.
I don’t want the Knicks to get the Hornets. I think they’d win, but I’d rather they not spend two weeks running themselves ragged against them before a likely no-holds-barred battle against Boston. I’d love for the Pistons to get the Hornets. I’d love for the Hornets to upset the Pistons. You’d have been committed for saying that two months ago. One collapsed lung + 23-6 for two months (including wins over the Spurs, Rockets and Celtics) = new expectations. Maybe a new reality?
Quoth rcnt123: “The Hornets are last year’s Pistons.” If they are, let this year’s Pistons duke it out with their Bizarro. The Knicks’ next game is a national tilt Sunday at Oklahoma City. If these Knicks stay true to form, they’ll look as good then as they did not last night.
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