During the ride from their hotel to the AT&T Center, James Borrego was having a conversation with Gordon Hayward when the subject turned to their matchup against San Antonio.
Perhaps feeling lucky in the place he honed his bench skills as an assistant under Gregg Popovich, the Charlotte Hornets coach recalled Hayward burning the Spurs in their last visit to Southwestern Texas.
“Yeah, yeah he mentioned it to me kind of on the bus,” Hayward said. “He said, ‘This is your gym. Go have a good one.’ And he was right. A little foreshadowing there. More than anything, happy about our win, happy about the performance of our team. I mean, it was a tremendous performance.”
That is Hayward in a nutshell. Even when he’s the key catalyst, the very person most directly responsible for leading the Hornets to an impressive 131-115 victory over San Antonio on Wednesday night, Hayward tried to deflect the personal credit, accolades and pats on the back as if he’s playing a passing lane and anticipating the ball coming in his direction.
But when you pour in 41 points, 21 of them coming in the third quarter of a game that featured the return of two important players — Mason Plumlee and Jalen McDaniels — and piggybacked off a disastrous team-wide outing two nights earlier up north in the Lone Star State, it’s a pretty significant accomplishment.
“Yeah, extremely proud of him,” Borrego said. “He’s been brewing, he’s been trying, he’s been pushing for a game like this for a while. He and I had a great conversation before the game. He had a great game here last season. He played aggressively and I don’t know, there is something about this building where he lights up. Now the goal is just to continue where he stays at this same pace, this same aggression.”
The evidence is overwhelmingly positive on the occasions it happens.
“When he plays at that level, he takes us to another level, obviously,” Borrego said. “So really proud of him. He’s been pushing. He’s been there every step along the way. He’s never asked for a day off, a practice off. He continues to grind and push us forward. So he deserved a game like tonight.”
Hayward, 31, posted video game-like numbers from the jump, ensuring the Hornets (16-14) weren’t starting things off lethargically in a similar fashion to what transpired in their brutal loss in Dallas to begin the trip. He canned 15 of 19 shots, misfired on just 1 of 6 attempts beyond the 3-point arc and went to the free-throw line six times, making all of them.
Digging deeper into Hayward’s eye-popping production Wednesday, he drained 7 of his first 9 attempts — including a 4-for-4 mark from 3 — and was up to 20 points with a little more than five minutes left before halftime.
Only one other person has scored 40 or more points through three quarters this season. That would be Charlotte native Steph Curry, the NBA’s newly crowned all-time 3-point leader. Hayward is just the second player in franchise history to do it since 1998, joining Kemba Walker’s offensive fireworks display in Memphis.
“I think it just gives me some confidence moving forward,” Hayward said. “I just have to play with this mindset every night. I’m not going to shoot like this, obviously. But I think for our team, though, for me to be aggressive, get in the paint, make plays for myself and others, it helps us as a team and I’ve got to continue to do that.”
Everyone understands how much the Hornets can use that version of Hayward on a nightly basis, but the question is why can’t it happen more frequently, especially when the Hornets could use it most. Part of it is attributable to the laundry list of injuries he’s fought through over the last few seasons. He simply isn’t as athletic as he used to be. His long-distance jumper betrays him at times and isn’t always on.
Those are all factors. Really, though, it’s also because he’s a victim of his own generosity on the basketball court. He’s far from a ball hog.
“G’s naturally an unselfish person, man, but when he’s aggressive from the start he’s a dog,” said Cody Martin, who had a career-best 21 points. ”He’s tough to guard and obviously when he’s shooting the ball like that he’s a tough cover regardless. But he’s a naturally unselfish person. He likes to make plays and he looks for other people.
“Like I said, when he starts off like that, he’s aggressive, he’s a tough cover and there is not really much you can do with him. So he gave us a big boost offensively.”
Hayward’s explosion represented the most since he tossed in 44 in January in Atlanta against the Hawks and that effort in the third quarter tied for the most in a quarter in his career.
Still, of all the stats, perhaps the most important was the number next to his name for the number of minutes he logged in the final quarter: Zero. Hayward got a break because the game was well within hand courtesy of a 28-point advantage after three quarters, a welcomed opportunity for someone who had logged at least 40 minutes in three of his previous four games.
In a season where they’ve dealt with a variety of injuries, and had as many as five players in the league’s health and safety protocols at once, Hayward has been a pillar of durability.
“Yeah, he’s one of those guys I have my eye on and I’ve got the pulse of, Gordon Hayward,” Borrego said. “We know we need him healthy and he is showing of being healthy, and getting better throughout the season. He and I are in constant conversation about his health and his fatigue level and I’ve got to manage that.
“And I think it took a toll on him having all these guys out. He was playing 40-plus minutes, handling the ball. But he was thrilled to do it. He was like, ‘I love it.’ So I want to continue that spirit. I think a lot of that aggression you saw tonight has come out of his handling of the ball. In the two Philly games and even some against Dallas. So he’s got some momentum now and I don’t want to lose that. But I’ve got to continue to be smart with him and manage his body because we know we need him healthy throughout the 82 games.”
Mention the benefit of the rare fourth-quarter chill time and Hayward nods.
“Absolutely,” Hayward said. “I think being able to save some energy for the rest of the trip was big for me and having them close out that game was important. So that was big time.”