While his Minnesota Timberwolves ultimately lost to the Charlotte Hornets, it’s safe to say that the star of the game was Minnesota big man Karl-Anthony Towns, who set a new Timberwolves franchise record, scoring 62 points.
The No. 2 star of the night was Eric Collins, the Hornets play-by-play man. It’s safe to say that if you were watching the game on Bally Sports Southeast and listening to Collins’ call of it, you were not bored.
Towns had an unreal performance from three-point range, making 10 threes in the game. He started the game going a perfect 8-for-8 on threes. The eighth three came late in the second quarter, Towns got a pass and quickly set up for a long three.
Seeing Towns setting up for the shot, Collins screamed, “NOOOOO.” When the shot went in, he again screamed. “NOOOOO. ARE YOU KIDDING?”
This has to be the call of the season by the Hornets announcer.
pic.twitter.com/2n8oxpgYIx— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzellNBA) January 23, 2024
The excitement continued.
As previously stated, while Towns had a great performance, the Hornets upset his Timberwolves. Charlotte took a 120-119 lead late in the fourth quarter on a three-pointer from Nick Smith Jr. Smith’s triple was set up by good ball movement from the Hornets. Leaky Smith took a pass and almost instantly fired the ball to Smith, who buried an open corner three. As the broadcast was going to commercial, it was replaying that sequence. Collins’ partner, Dell Curry, admired the ball movement.
“Good ball movement. Good shooter. Wide open. Any NBA player is gonna make that. Your Hornets. look at the score. One-point lead,” Curry said.
Collins followed that with an excited, “Woo-Hoo.”
Eric Collins at the end… WOOHOO!
😂 #LetsFly35 pic.twitter.com/nPpKfjW7BU
— /r/CharlotteHornets (@HornetsReddit) January 23, 2024
The game’s final seconds gave Collins more chances to shine, and he delivered.
With 1.7 to go in the game and the Hornets clinging to a 126-125 lead, Black went to the line for two free throws. As Black was getting ready for his first attempt, Collins said, “He’s never made a free throw as a pro.” Black’s first attempt was good, prompting Collins to follow up with, “BUT HE HAS NOW. I LOVE LEAKY”
"I LOVE LEAKY!!!" pic.twitter.com/GY7fMTig3C
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) January 23, 2024
While Black’s second free throw was also good, the Timberwolves had one chance to tie the game. We were either going to get Collins’ call of a big upset or a miracle game-tying three. At this point, we were all winners.
We got Door No. 1.
The inbounds pass went to Towns, who tried a game-tying three from close to center court as time expired. His shot fell well short, leading to another excited call from Collins.
“NEVER GOT THERE. AND THE HORNETS WIIIIIIIN. HUM DIDDLY DEE. THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT.”
We can’t blame Collins for being excited. The upset was so significant that the New York Post didn’t seem to believe it, even after the fact.
Not Quite. pic.twitter.com/1ov4jNLxo3
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 23, 2024
Now we can only excitedly wait to see and hear what Collins has in store for us next.
[Photo Credit: @HornetsReddit on Twitter/X]
