Charlotte Hornets. (Mandatory Credit: Sarah Stier/POOL PHOTOS-USA TODAY Sports)
The Charlotte Hornets can accomplish so much if they were to make the 2021 NBA Playoffs.
With serious playoff aspirations, it all starts with a win on Tuesday night vs. the Indiana Pacers for the Charlotte Hornets.
Charlotte is finished the 2020-21 NBA regular season in 10th place in the Eastern Conference with a 33-39 record. The Hornets beat out the Chicago Bulls by two games for the last spot in the play-in tournament in the East. While the Hornets have to win on the road Tuesday night vs. Indiana to keep their season alive, here is why they have plenty to play for in the latter part of May.
Here are three realistic goals for the Hornets this postseason.
3. The Charlotte Hornets need to secure an actual playoff spot
This goes with saying, but making the Eastern Conference Playoffs as the No. 8 seed as a 10th-place finisher would be a huge accomplishment. It would have meant back-to-back wins on the road in win-or-go-home scenarios. Charlotte would have eliminated the Pacers in Indianapolis and either the Boston Celtics or the Washington Wizards on their own court in only a matter of days.
While the Hornets would be underdogs vs. the top-seeded Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs, extending the potential best-of-seven, first-round series to a gentleman’s sweep would be a best-case scenario. Doing so will have shown to the rest of the NBA that the Hornets are a team to be taken seriously next season, and expose a potential 76ers vulnerability.