LaMelo Ball, Hornets' 8-Game Win Streak Snaps Historic Drought Amid NBA Playoff Push
The PlayStation 2 is finally older than the Charlotte Hornets' most recent eight-game winning streak.
Charlotte defeated the Houston Rockets 109-99 in Thursday's contest, which pushed its winning streak to an impressive eight games. As Sam Perley of NBA.com noted, it marked the team's first eight-game winning streak since December 1999.
And that just so happened to be a time before the world was introduced to the PlayStation 2:
The Hornets started the streak on Jan. 22 with a win over the Orlando Magic and then followed with victories over the Washington Wizards, Philadelphia 76ers, Memphis Grizzlies, Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, New Orleans Pelicans and Rockets.
Winning at Houston was anything but easy considering the Rockets are 31-19 overall and 17-6 at home. But Charlotte managed to hold an offense that features Kevin Durant and Alperen Şengün to fewer than 100 points in a formidable defensive performance.
Durant scored 31 points, but Jabari Smith Jr. was the only other Rockets player to finish in double figures.
While the Hornets managed just 18 points in the fourth quarter themselves, they built enough of a cushion in part because of 20 points, six rebounds and four assists from LaMelo Ball.
"We did a ton of really good things for three-and-a-half quarters," head coach Charles Lee told reporters. "The end of that fourth quarter can be a lot better, but proud of the group for how they adjusted, especially having Brandon [Miller] be in foul trouble. Calling on some other guys, they had to play some big minutes… I'm just really happy with the group with how we came out here and played on the road tonight."
The Hornets are still just 24-28 on the season but have climbed all the way into play-in position thanks to their recent streak.
They will look to keep it rolling Saturday on the road against the Atlanta Hawks.
