Terry Rozier’s magic run at the end of the fourth quarter lasted just long enough for the Hornets to get back in it, but not quite long enough to actually win the game. With a minute and a half to go in the game and the Hornets down by 9, he hit 4 threes on 4 straight possessions to make it a two point game. After Collin Sexton’s horrible turnover (yeah, let me just dribble it off my foot and out of bounds), Rozier had a chance to win it. Sadly (or happily, if you’re a proponent of the “tanking” strategy for Charlotte), his open three with a few seconds left rimmed out, and the Cavaliers came out victorious.
I’m telling you all this because that’s the sort of context that is missing from highlight videos. Without that paragraph, the video would just end after Rozier hit his last three, and you would have no idea how the game turned out. Maybe I could have put his game-winning attempt in, but I’m not one of those perverted channels that deals in lowlights. This channel is about made buckets. Not missed ones.
Which is also the reason you don’t get to see his embarrassing missed dunk off a steal.
Rozier has had a lot of critics lately, not necessarily (but often) for his play on the court, but for his huge contract. He hasn’t been totally bad, his raw stats are better than ever, but he’s been getting thoroughly outplayed by Devonte’ Graham and Hornets fans seem to think he’s just a chucker or who can’t really pass and doesn’t play defense. And who am I to say they’re wrong? They’re the ones who watch all the Hornets games, those pour souls.
But all of Rozier’s haters can just shut up after this performance. He didn’t get the win, but he did get a career-high, and it’s not his fault that the rest of his team (including Graham) didn’t even want to show up against one of the few teams in the league they can reasonably be expected to beat. I don’t know if him saying “This is my city!” after hitting all those threes is exactly appropriate (why would you want to take ownership of a dump like Cleveland anyway, even if you grew up there), but I admire the moxie. Reminds me a bit of Dion Waiters.