In a game that irrationally raised my heart rate, the Charlotte Hornets took down the Sacramento Kings to win the summer league championship.

The summary

The Hornets did the same thing they did in their two most recent games. They put the absolute clamps on the Kings and got hot from deep to build out an early double digit lead. Ryan Kalkbrenner got lost behind the defense multiple times, then the perimeter opened up as the Kings struggled to find any cohesiveness defensively. Eventually the Kings upped their defensive pressure, and that sped the Hornets up and wore the offense down. The Kings were able to trim the lead down to single digits by halftime.

The third quarter looked like some real summer league basketball. Both teams brought a lot of defensive intensity, and the summer league offenses really struggled to create good looks against it. The Kings inched closer, but a spurt by DJ Rodman that featured a three immediately followed by a drawn charge helped the Hornets restore their double digit cushion.

The Kings scratched their way back into the game during a very ugly fourth quarter that featured a lot of forced shots and timid looking ball handlers. The Hornets missed eight straight shots heading into crunch time and let the Kings make it a one possession game for several possessions. Eventually the Kings were able to get to within one with some bully ball from Isaac Jones. Kon Knueppel hit a potential dagger three to put the Hornets up four, but Jones hit a three of his own with 20 seconds to left to restore the one point separation.

Knueppel went to the line to restore the three point lead, but he back rimmed the second attempt. There was a scrum for the rebound, and the Kings kicked it out of bounds. Jaylen Sims got a crack at it, and he made both to make it a four point lead. Some free throws were exchanged over the course of what felt like an hour, and a rebound and a pair of free throws from Ryan Kalkbrenner put it away.

Takeaways

Rynan Kalkbrenner saved his best for last. He made himself available for a bunch of easy buckets early on. He disappeared for a while in the middle, but he came up with the game clinching rebound and free throws at the end. 15 points and 9 rebounds is something to build off for the rest of the summer.

Kon Knueppel had some struggles, but he hit an almost dagger three and finished with 21 points. More important than the stats, he had a couple of good interior finishes in traffic and held up well defensively. I’m excited to watch him with NBA talent around him.

I hope all of the supporting players end up on the Swarm if they don’t get better gigs elsewhere. they contributed to such a well connected and joyous team team to root for. MJ Walker with his 3&D, DJ Rodman with winning plays on both ends, Jaylen Sims with his aggressiveness, and Josh Oduro with his rebounding. We’ll remember this team forever.

What a way to go into the rest of the summer. The Hornets are champions.