Could this be the return of Malik Monk?
Buried on the bench for most of the season, he makes the most of his opportunity with Gordon Hayward out against Toronto
With their main offensive weapon sidelined, sitting out nursing a left hip strain suffered the night before, the Hornets were in need of a replacement in the starting lineup.
Gordon Hayward wasn’t available, having been downgraded to doubtful after being listed as probable earlier in the day. The responsibility of filling Hayward’s sneakers in the game’s opening quintet was bestowed upon Caleb Martin, and his insertion opened up an opportunity for someone else to move up in the rotation — like a guy who’s been buried on the bench for the bulk of the season’s outset.
Malik Monk dusted off the cobwebs and logged 23 minutes, trailing only Miles Bridges and LaMelo Ball in reserve action. He scored all 10 of his points in the first half of the Hornets’ 111-108 loss to Toronto in Tampa, Fla. on Thursday, leapfrogging Cody Martin in the rotation for his first meaningful action since last season.
“It felt great,” Monk said. “I hadn’t played an organized game in 11 months. But yeah, it just felt great to be out there with the guys and to see a couple of shots go in, too, that also feels good.
“I thought my conditioning would be way, way worse than it was. But I put a lot of work in on the days I didn’t play. Before, after, at night. I put a lot of work in and it showed, too.”
Outside of some mop up duty in two other games this season, Monk’s spent his time on the bench. He missed a hefty portion of the preseason after testing positive for COVID-19 even though he was asymptomatic, having to quarantine for a good part of the first two weeks.
That, paired with the Martin twins and Jalen McDaniels essentially jumping over him in the rotation following his suspension last season, had Monk rendered mostly an afterthought while he worked himself into game shape. So he was geared up when coach James Borrego summoned him in the first quarter, nailing all three of his first-half shots.
Sure, there were moments one would expect from somebody who hasn’t played much. Like when he air-balled a short putback attempt in the lane. But Monk otherwise gave the Hornets a spark.
“I thought Malik was great,” Borrego said. “He’s stayed ready, been professional. He impacted that game on both ends of the floor. Obviously, he made shots, got to the rim, made the right play, played with the right spirit. He was engaged all night. I thought he was real good tonight.”
Monk partially chalks it up to serving as a teacher of sorts for their most recent first-round pick. Being a sounding board and an extra pair of eyes for Ball has its benefits all-around.
“That’s what’s keeping me locked in as well, helping him,” Monk said. “I know I can help him a lot, because I play the guard position and I was young, doing the same thing he’s going through as well. I came into the league at 19. So I’ve got a lot of pointers I can give to him still. And I’m going to continue to do that daily.”
Depending on how he feels, Hayward could play against Toronto on Saturday in the finale of Charlotte’s short two-game road trip. Either way, Monk, with a confidence-boosting steady shift to now build on, believes he made his case for another chance to get back out there again soon.
“I think it did and played a big part in me getting a little bit more minutes now, but if I don’t I’m always going to be ready to go in and do what I did today.” Monk said. “So I’m just here to help the team and do what I’ve got to do to help the team. If that’s playing like I did today, I’ll do that. And if it’s on the bench cheering, coaching ‘Melo up, coaching guys up and what I see out there, I’ll do that. I’m just here for the team.”
Besides Monk’s readiness to contribute on a more consistent basis, here are two other things we learned about the Hornets in their second straight defeat following a season-best four-game winning streak:
STILL ON THE BALL
The aforementioned Ball once again turned in a solid night statistically, save for one thing that we’ll get to in a second. He recorded his third double-double in his last five games, tossing in 14 points to go with a career-high 11 assists. He also snatched six rebounds, collected three steals and and block, but also had five turnovers.
He came in with a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, so that was a bit of anomaly.
“Yeah, I saw a lot of good out of him, made some really good kick out plays, really good decisions,” Borrego said. “Obviously the five turnovers have got to get cleaned up. That’s too many turnovers for him. And for the most part this kid has taken care of the ball. And for as much playmaking as he’s doing for us, he’s done a really nice job for a 19-year-old taking care of the ball. The challenge is with a physical team like this, he’s got to do a better job. I thought he really impacted the game down the stretch, found some open shooters, made plays. So he continues to grow and develop. He's gotten better every game.”
And he has a fan in Monk.
“Not even playing with him, (just) watching him it’s amazing to see how young he is and how he can set a lot of guys up to get open shots,” Monk said. “His passing ability is second to none, man. But he pushes the pace for us and that’s what I do — run up and down the court.”
BOARD GAMES
As it has on more than a few occasions this season, rebounding issues plagued the Hornets during the most inopportune times. The final numbers indicate they were the better side cleaning the glass, swiping four more rebounds than Toronto’s 40.
But in the fourth quarter, the Raptors finished with an 18-12 edge and exactly half of them came on the offensive glass. It was a microcosm of one of the Hornets’ main weaknesses. They rank last in the league in defensive rebound percentage at 70.4.
Borrego enjoys playing the shorter lineups, putting the 6-foot-7 PJ Washington at the center position so they can get out in transition and use their speed to score easy buckets. On the flip side, with that comes a likely size disadvantage, leading to the discrepancy in rebounding totals.
The best way to combat that?
“We’ve got to dig ‘em out,” Borrego said. “We’ve just got to go get ‘em, box out, be more physical. We’ve got to find a way to dig out those rebounds when we are small. I didn’t think they crushed us on the boards until late. For the most part, they had nine second-chance points. That’s not a lot. They had 13 offensive rebounds. I want a few less than that per game.
“There were probably three or four there down the stretch that really cost us. So when we are small we’ve just got to be more physical. That’s the adjustment. We’ve just got to be more physical. We’ve got to be big and we’ve got to dig out rebounds. Especially when we are small.”