12-17-19 At the Game: Kings at Hornets 7pm EST
We arrived to the Spectrum Center — rollin’ deep with the boys — just before 7pm. We were stuffed full of pre-game burgers, dranks and a shot for good measure. We fat hiked it (with new dranks in hand, of course) down to our seats in Section 117, 3rd row behind the basket on the Hornets side, just before tip-off.
The polar opposite of the Lakers-Hawks game that we attended two nights ago, there was hardly anybody at the game. This was expected. This was Kings-Hornets on a random, chilly December Tuesday night in Charlotte after all. But WE were there. And we were in on the action, baby!
As we recently stated on Friday the 13th, Hornets Overs have been Canceled — until maybe tonight since we would be live and in color at the game in person. With the game’s total coming in at a lowly 208 points, and with this being De’Aaron Fox’s long awaited return (a delightful surprise!), we absolutely HAD to take the Over.
Another fantastic surprise was finding out that Joey, a last minute addition to our crew tonight, had ended his lengthy gambling hiatus. He was back on the horse and we were all in on the action. (Quick aside: We actually did not bet on the Lakers-Hawks game on Sunday night. We did not want anything to possibly take away from our enjoyment of that game, or to have any skewed lens whatsoever in seeing LeBron for the first time. And it was a good thing, too, because we totally would have taken the Lakers -12 and the Over, neither of which hit.)
Tonight, we all took Over 208. And the Hornets were getting 5.5 points, so we absolutely had to take our beloved Hornets +5.5 as well! We eyed the MoneyLine at +180, but we left that to Joey, who continually hammered the Live Hornets MoneyLine throughout the game. It’s just so great to have him back.
The game tipped off and the opening possession was an ominous sign. The Hornets took their sweet time before Cody Zeller spun around Nemanja Bjelica and fired up an airball of a layup. Bismack Biyombo corralled the miss and attempted a fancy up-and-under reverse layup of his own that was pretty much another airball, barely grazing the backboard on the way down. Biz ran after the ball and tried to save it from going out of bounds, but it didn’t matter, because the 24-second shot clock violation horn sounded.
The proceeding five minutes of gameplay did NOT get off to a good start for the Over, either. Like, not AT ALL. We are talking about missed layups, missed free throws, bad passes and turnovers, bricks, and just an overall slow pace with a lot of dumps down into the post for back-to-the-basket basketballin’. And the missed layups, they weren’t just regularly missed layups. We are talking about numerous missed BUNNIES.
The score was 7 to 6 with a grand total of 13 points scored more than five minutes into the game. Some of us were already very worried, some of us were not worried at all.
We knew that the dynamic of the game was going to change once Fox checked in since Luke Walton elected to stick with the starting lineup of Cory Joseph, Buddy Hield, Harrison Barnes, Nemanja Bjelica and Richaun Holmes, the Kings go-to first unit during the absence of both Fox and Bagley. We also know that the pace of the Hornets opponents can be contagious for the Hornets, who are susceptible to playing to how the opposition plays. Right on cue, shortly after Fox checked in, Fox dished to Hield who knocked down an open corner three-pointer. Just like that, the Dash Bros were back!
A few possessions later, Cody Martin surprisingly hit a three-pointer, only his fifth made three of the season. And on the Hornets next possession, we got a Miles Bridges power dunk! There was some debate on this one, but come on, that’s a power dunk!
That’s not just some regular dunk. Power, baby.
Bagley responded with some two-handed thunder of his own. The goal was really a shakin’.
Later in the 1st quarter, we got a Harrison Barnes three-ball, followed by a Marvin Williams three-ball! Two Tar Heels!! Consecutively made three-pointers on back-to-back possessions is exactly what you want to see when you have the Over. We had to bring out the three goggles along with Marvin for that one.
Alas, we were still a bit under pace after both the first quarter and at halftime: Hornets 53, Kings 47. But we had everyone feeling better about it and we were still in the mix. And Hornets +5.5 and the Hornets MoneyLine were looking great! We still wished that we could go into both locker rooms at halftime and tell those boys: “Alright. LET’S GET SOME POINTS!!!”
Nate Dogg unfortunately could not make it to this game and he texted us to check in. We sent him this selfie:
Nate Dogg asked if Joey was praying. We texted back, “He’s praying for points. We took the Over lol”
By the way, to our right, we were sitting next to Devonte’ Graham’s trainer who told us that Devonte’ is really hoping to get a big contract after his stellar start to this season. We agree that he 100% deserves it. His contract right now of $1.4 million per year looks like one of the best bargains in the league. And it looks down right hilarious next to Rozier’s annual salary of $19.9 million per year. Just look at the average stats through the first 30 games of the season.
Devonte’ Graham for $1.4 milly: 19.3 points and 7.5 assists.
Terry Rozier for $19.9 milly: 17.3 points and 4.2 assists.
HIGH-larious.
Also amusing was the fact that we caught TWO free tee-shirts during the game and we landed on the jumbotron during the dance cam, because of course we did.
Not as funny was the lull in the third quarter that saw a scoring drought of close to 2 minutes. However, the end of the third quarter was absolute bliss with four straight possessions that resulted in really quick buckets.
Marvin Williams for three!
Bogey with a solid layup!
Biz with an easy lay-in!
Fox with a shifty, driving layup!
“Look at all these points!” - we screamed.
Entering the 4th quarter, the scoreboard showed Hornets 80, Kings 79. We were all feeling great about the Over now, which was on pace to hit, and we were feeling really great, because hot damn, we had ourselves a ballgame!
Then we experienced another lull that again saw a 2-minute drought of no baskets at all. That’s when we knew that this motherfucker was going to be close.
In the last 6+ minutes:
Devonte’ Graham hit back-to-back threes with a Bagley jumper sandwiched between them!
Biz made a left-handed layup. “There you go, Biz!”
MKG, not known for his outside shooting, hit a corner three. “Holy hell, MKG hit a three!”
Fox and Monk made easy layups. “Look at these easy buckets!”
Both teams made their free throws. “Look at all these free points!”
With less than two minutes remaining, we needed 9 more points. Just NINE, but the Hornets were up 11, which was looking so very good for our Hornets +5.5 and for all of Joey’s MoneyLines, yet we knew this meant that the Hornets would try to run out the clock.
The next Kings possession, Buddy Hield hit a three! The next Hornets possession, the shot clock did run down but Scary Terry hit a three! “Rozier is worth every penny!!!” Then Buddy Hield made a layup! We were going bananas. Jumping up and down, screaming and high-fiving.
With less than a minute to go in the game, all we needed was: one. more. bucket.
That’s when a Malik Monk put-back dunk with 39 seconds left sealed the Over! 209 points. We hit Over 208 by one point!!! Well, a Buddy Hield garbage time three-pointer at the buzzer bumped the total to 212, but we know exactly just how close it really was.
Because we were there! In person in Charlotte on a random, chilly December Tuesday night with the boys, pulling off the Squeaky Come Back Lock on the Hornets Over and watching our beloved Hornets get a hard-fought W.
Hornets 110, Kings 102.
We love this game!