Div B

November 2nd, 1996 Charlotte grabs the franchise’s second-ever opening night win with a 109-98 victory over the Toronto Raptors at the Coliseum. Dell Curry explodes for 38, which is Curry’s career-high; Dell torched the Raptors 30 years ago today for 38 PTS, 4 REB, 1 AST, and 1 STL on 15/23 shooting from the field (6/11 3PT). Per the Observer’s Leonard Laye, as Dell’s heater of a game continued, referee Jess Keesey ran past the Hornets bench and said, “Hey, will somebody get some ice for Dell’s arm?” The funniest part is that Curry’s career-high began with a 3/10 start from the field. After a 3/10 start, Dell ended the game 15/23 and missed only one shot the rest of the game. Hence, “Get some ice for his arm.” Dell had 20 of his 38 PTS in the 3Q alone, and finished that 3Q 8/8 from the field (4/4 3PT). Glen Rice – in his 2nd year for the Hornets – didn’t dress for the first three games of the 96-97 NBA season due to an ankle issue, and it’s what allowed Curry a chance in their 1st game of a year where they won a franchise-high 54 games. It was Anthony Mason’s 1st regular season game as a Hornet, too: Mason finished his first-ever Hornets game with 18 PTS, 15 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, and just 2 TOs in 44 MP. 
Charlotte traded LJ to the Knicks in the summer of ‘96 in exchange for Mason, as LJ’s back issues became the legitimate, career-defining struggle we talk about now. The Hornets also traded Alonzo Mourning the year before, in ‘95, on the day the 95-96 regular season began. Just one year later, the two Hornets stars who brought this team its first-ever playoff series were both gone, but the LJ trade for Mason and the acquisition of Glen Rice for Mourning in ‘95 set the Hornets up for 54 wins. It wasn’t just Mason that was new: this 96-97 Hornets team also welcomed Vlade Divac in a draft-night trade with the Los Angeles Lakers for the rights to Kobe Bean Bryant. Divac started his time in purple and teal with 9 PTS, 11 REB, 4 AST, and 3 BLK. Charlotte put together a towering starting lineup: Anthony Mason at 3, Matt Gieger at 4, Divac at 5, and Muggsy Bogues and Dell Curry in the backcourt, with Glen Rice out. The Hornets outrebounded the Raptors 51-34 on this Dell Curry career-high scoring night. “That’s the best feeling I can remember in a long time,” Curry told Leonard Laye. “But it all had a lot to do with this guy right here (pointing to Bogues) and with us knowing plays better and getting into our rotation better.” Bogues played fewer than 10 games in the 95-96 season as he began dealing with knee issues that lingered through the Hornets’ prior season. It was a big deal for them to get Muggsy back healthy… and Laye notes that Muggsy was playing with zero cartilage in his knee. “Nobody knows how much pain he’s in,” Hornets team doctor Glenn Perry told Laye. “He’s got the heart of a lion… and the knee of Chester from ‘Gunsmoke’.” Muggsy had to put a heating pad on his knee mid-game thanks to team trainer Terry Kofler, but Muggsy wasn’t using it as an excuse. “This is how it’s going to be for me (this year),” Bogues said about the knee stiffness against Toronto. “The reality is either I come out or just suck it up.” It was Curry and Bogues’ first regular-season game playing under Hornets HC Dave Cowens, who was coaching his 1st Hornets game after taking the reins from Allan Bristow. Bristow was the 1st coach in team history to win 50 games in a season… And Cowens is still the only HC in Hornets history to lead multiple 50-win teams, and he did it in back-to-back years. Cowens also received a tech in his first1st game as HC, after he protested a foul call on Muggsy whilst “flapping his arms and kicking the air protesting a foul call on Bogues,” per Laye.

“I’m just disappointed because I was going to try to go the whole season without a technical,” Cowens said. Laye said that Cowens tried not to laugh as he said it, knowing it was never gonna happen. Highlights from Curry’s 38 PTS & newspapers are below: