Hornets' Playoff Loss: A Harsh Reality Check

On April 18th, the Charlotte Hornets season wrapped up in brutal fashion with a blowout

loss to the Orlando Magic in the second round of the play-in, Tournament.

Magic jumped out fast, hitting 10 straight points early and owning the paint with 26 points

in the first quarter alone, leading by 22.

Hornets couldn't match the physicality, falling behind by as much as 35 before half-time.

Gang stayed lopsided from there, with Hornets chipping away a bit in the third, but dropping

31 points behind heading into the meaningless.

Fourth.

Turnovers plague them all night, more than made field goals at one stretch, while magic

controlled the tempo and boards, grabbing over a third of their own misses.

Fans are salty about the refs, calling the game clunky, with too many whistles and uneven

calls, especially early when magic got physical without much.

Penalty.

Hornets drew more fouls trying to fight through it, but truth is, they beat themselves

on sloppiness and execution.

They bombed from deep, hitting just 12 or 45 threes, got out rebounded hard, and sent

magic to the line, 37 times, failing every.

Core strength they built the season on, no excuses, just a harsh reality check.

Still, this was the most entertaining Hornets squad in years, full of promise under Jeff

Peterson.

Now, off-season hits, time to stack assets and push for that next level come fall.

That's the story for today, Charlotte Hornets News Today, driven by AI.