Nick Smith Jr. scored a career high in points as the Charlotte Hornets ended their season with a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, 120-110.

The Summary

The first bucket of the game was a Marques Bolden left handed hook off the glass, which turned out to be a good omen for the game. It took some time to get there though. Max Strus hit a couple of quick threes and Evan Mobley added a few points of his own as the Cavs took an early lead. They built the lead into double figures, but Nick Smith Jr. started his hot night with a three quickly after checking in. Aleksej Pokusevski committed an all time last-game-of-the-season turnover when he took a side inbound in the backcourt and absentmindedly hit the official who was rotating over. The ball bounced off the ref and out of bounds. Even with the gaffe, the Hornets trailed by nine.

Poku made relatively quick amends with a couple of jumpers. It was part of a very well played second quarter by all of the Hornets reserved. Everyone contributed, all eight players that appeared in the second quarter made one or two shots, and the team had 10 assists on 13 made baskets. The Hornets briefly tied the game on a Nick Smith Jr. three. They had a chance to take the lead at the halftime buzzer, but Bryce McGowens’ 3-pointer went halfway down and rattled out.

The second half started almost exactly the same way as the first. Marques Bolden made a hook shot to give the Hornets the lead but it was quickly answered by a Max Strus three. Bryce McGowens and JT Thor paced the Hornets on the offensive end, but the Cavs found scoring and offensive rebounding easy enough on the other end to more than keep pace. The Cavs had their own last-game-of-the-season moment. Emoni Bates tomahawked a dunk off the back rim. It landed in the lap of Marcus Morris, who knocked down the triple. A high scoring third quarter ended with the Hornets down eight.

Steve Clifford or someone must have given an all time “win one for the gipper speech” between the third and fourth quarters. The Cavs trotted out a borderline G League lineup, but the Hornets still thoroughly dominated the last quarter of the Steve Clifford era. The teams traded baskets long enough for Max Strus to get his first career triple double, and then the wheels fell off the Cavaliers’ wagon. When he left the game, there was 6:39 left and the Cavs had 108 points. They would score two points the rest of the way. Nick Smith built off a hot start to the quarter to jumpstart the run. He gave the Hornets the lead with one of his four fourth quarter 3-pointers, and JT Thor built off that with a couple of buckets off pump fakes around the basket and blocks on the other end. Amari Bailey earned a few points on runouts too. Smith dropped the dagger with another three in the final minute.

The Good

I know the win hurt the Hornets’ lottery odds a smidge, but this seems like a draft where lottery positioning is somewhat inconsequential anyway. It’s been a rough couple of seasons, but it was nice to see the Hornets send Steve Clifford out with a win.

Nick Smith Jr. had a career high 24 points with 14 of them coming in the fourth quarter. He made 6-of-11 threes and finishes his rookie season shooting 43% from three.

JT Thor had a very strong showing. He sought out his shot and hit three 3-pointers and made himself a poster in the third quarter. He hit the 20 point mark for the first time in his career. He stuffed the stat sheet more than you’d expect from him too.

Bryce McGowens was aggressive as well. There have been a lot of times where it seems like his confidence waivers, but that wasn’t the case tonight, which makes sense given the nonexistent stakes in the game. He got off to a rough start, but he finished with a solid 18 points and had a few moments that looked like NBA player moments.

It was against a Cavaliers team that wasn’t trying, but it was one of the more cohesive games the Hornets played all season. They assisted on 36 of their 46 made baskets. It was an enjoyable game to watch.

The Bad

Nothing worth talking about. All good vibes for the last game of the season.

What’s Next

The offseason is upon us. The Hornets have more coaching candidates set to interview and a lot of decisions to make with the roster.