Short-handed Hornets 'fight' off comeback to beat Hawks

On Wednesday afternoon, the NBA suspended Charlotte Hornets starters Miles Bridges and Moussa Diabate for four games. Their short-handed teammates just barely held off the Atlanta Hawks to go into the All-Star break in ninth place in the East.

Without Bridges and Diabate, the Hornets took a 19-point lead midway through the third quarter. The Hawks fought back to within one point, but the Hornets got off the canvas to get two big defensive stops and leapfrog Atlanta in the standings.

Hornets have talent, but lack depth

The young Hornets have been one of the NBA's biggest surprises of the new year, going 14-7 in 2026 and winning 10 of their last 11 games. But they'll sorely miss Bridges (18.2 points, 6.1 rebounds) and Diabate (9.2 points, 10.6 rebounds in his last 10 games).

Charlotte is getting great contributions from its rookie class of Kon Knueppel (18.9 points, 43.1 percent 3P%), Ryan Kalkbrenner (8.2 points, 1.5 blocks) and Sion James, who has been a solid defensive guard off the bench. It's the veteran reserves who haven't come through, and they will be sorely needed with two starting forwards out.

Grant Williams, playing only his 14th game since returning from an ACL tear, shot 1-of-9 and 0-of-6 from three-point range on Wednesday, though he did grab eight rebounds. Veteran backups Josh Green and Tre Mann had eight combined points in 35 combined minutes. The Hornets will need more after the break, thanks to Monday's brawl with the Detroit Pistons.