The Charlotte Hornets lost a gut-punch over the weekend. The Philadelphia 76ers were playing without LeBron James and Joel Embiid on the second night of a back-to-back, and that looked like it was going to give the Hornets a leg up.

Charlotte took a seven-point lead with 3:41 remaining, and after a 76ers miss, they had a 93.7% chance to win. The 76ers closed on an embarrassing 15-3 run to close it out, with the Hornets making just one field goal with 6.5 seconds left, when it was essentially already over.

It was a crushing defeat when the Hornets had a great chance to snag an upset win early on. Yes, they were missing Kon Knueppel, Coby White, and Grant Williams, but they need wins.

After the game, Moussa Diabaté revealed what went wrong and also shared his outlook for the team in the face of such a difficult loss.

"We should've been more mature at the end of the game," Diabaté said. "Like I said, executing. There were a couple times we messed up the execution... At the end of games, good teams are always gonna punish you when you're not executing."

As for the state of the team, currently on a three-game losing streak, Diabaté said, "It's a long season, it's not the end of the world. We had a terrible start at the beginning of the year last year as well... We're playing great teams, it's been a h**l of a schedule, still missing players... I'm very confident with what the coaches have in mind."

The Hornets were 16-27 last year before morphing into arguably the NBA's best team in the second half of the season. 3-4 is not something they can't handle. There are obviously some major differences from the team last year, but this year, there are reinforcements coming.

Tonight, Coby White will make his return against the Detroit Pistons. Soon, Kon Knueppel is expected to return after practicing with the Greensboro Swarm. Eventually, Grant Williams will be back in the rotation, too.

The Hornets have needed to tread water while those players get healthy so they can learn what kind of team they are in a post-LaMelo Ball world. So far, they're only slightly underwater, and help is already on the way. As Diabaté alluded to, it's not time to panic just yet.