As of April 3, the Charlotte Hornets is sporting a 45-32 win-loss card, following a loss to the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers at the Cavs’ home floor.
LeBron James and the Cavaliers also snapped the Hornets’ three-game winning streak that actually put Jeremy Lin’s team in the third spot in the Eastern Conference next only to the Toronto Raptors for a good 24 hours.
With the win of the Hornets and the Heat on April 1, they actually overtook Atlanta and Boston for third and fourth spot, respectively. But the Boston Celtics almost did the unthinkable by defeating the Golden State Warriors on the champions’ home floor, and they were back on fourth place one day later. So was Atlanta, who came out victorious the following day.
It was actually a log jam in the Eastern Conference with four teams sharing nearly similar win-loss slates from the third to the sixth spots.
The thing about this log jam is that these four teams will actually be the ones facing each other in the first round, or two pairings that is. The No. 3 team will be facing the No. 6 squad while the No. 4 squad will face off with the No. 5 team. The higher seeded teams shall enjoy homecourt advantage.
As it is, the Hornets could actually aspire for either a No. 3 or the No. 4 spot but some analysts, particularly fans of Jeremy Lin at JeremyLin.net, are looking at it at the bigger picture
Apparently, they want the Hornets to face off with the Atlanta Hawks rather than the Miami Heat or the Boston Celtics on the first round, regardless of the homecourt advantage because the team got Atlanta’s number and could get into the second round thereafter.
Winning them all
But if it is up to Jeremy Lin, he would rather that they play all the remaining five games with the intention of winning them all, if possible and take it from there.
The important thing for him is that they get homecourt advantage in the first round regardless of who their opponent is going to be. Although, at this point, they already know that it could be anyone from the Hawks, the Heat, or the Celtics.
It is likely that it is the same thought that is being shared by the team management beginning with team president Michael Jordan and also coach Steve Clifford, who was recently named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month in March.
The first round of the playoff is very important to get momentum to go deep into the latter rounds so it would be good if right there, they already have some known advantage over their opponent.
The Hornets have a very light schedule in its remaining five games and only the Toronto Raptors, whom they will be playing next is a team that is above .500 so they can surely string up three or four wins and wound up with a 49-33 record to end the regular season.
But nothing beats ending the regular season with 50 wins so the Hornets would surely aspire for that and get rewarded by a first round homecourt advantage in the process.
A circus shot
Meanwhile, Jeremy Lin was in the highlight reel once again for making that and-one circus shot while they were facing the Philadelphia Sixers at the Time Warner Cable Arena on April 1.
He was fouled by two defenders and he managed to loop the shot by throwing it up in the air after he got hit. By some stroke of luck, the ball went in.
Lim even laughed a bit when the ball went in realizing just how ridiculous that circus shot was. FTW USA Today even considered it as an April Fool’s Day magic, if there was one.
Jeremy Lin is now considered one of the most reliable bench players on the deep bench of the Charlotte Hornets.
For Hornets to win in the playoffs, Lin should be given more playing time and Kemba should be restricted in his individualistic play. The team needs Kemba’s scoring but it needs team work more like Lin’s all around plays.