No, the Charlotte Hornets didn’t win the NBA Finals Wednesday night, but they did beat LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, and that was good enough for Eric Collins.
After James ruined the NBA All-Star Game (kidding) in favor of resting his ankle ahead of the Lakers stretch run, it proved to be all for naught, at least in terms of Wednesday night.
James missed two potentially game-tying threes in the final five seconds to seal a disappointing loss for Los Angeles against Charlotte. But what was a disappointing loss for LeBron, the Lakers and their fans, was an epic finish for the Hornets and their play-by-play voice Eric Collins, who put a stamp on the win.
LeBron is now 0-21 on game-winning/tying shots since 2020 😳 pic.twitter.com/wv7KH6kY3O
— BricksCenter (@BricksCenter) February 20, 2025
“James wants it, oh no!” Collins said as he saw LeBron line up for an open three. “No it’s short!” Collins yelled after the three clanked off the front of the rim before finding its way back to LeBron, who took another shot at tying the game.
“James, it’ll count! IT’S OVERRRR! IT’S OVERRRRR,” Collins exclaimed as the buzzer sounded on a throwback 100-97 victory. “Your Charlotte Hornets win…”
Based on the excitement, it really felt like the most logical way for Collins to continue that statement was by saying, “Your Charlotte Hornets win the NBA Finals.” Alas, it was the Hornets improving to 14-39 on Wednesday, Feb. 19.
“Your Charlotte Hornets win here in LA!” Collins said.
And now we can all go back to a world where the Hornets and Lakers most definitely will not be facing off in the NBA Finals. But worse than that, a world where Collins doesn’t have a regular national gig, keeping basketball fans from enjoying calls like this throughout the playoffs.
