An injury to LaMelo Ball and a porous defense turned a stellar shooting performance from the Charlotte Hornets into a tough loss at the hands of the Orlando Magic, 130-117.

Summary

Orlando opened the game on a 6-0 run before Terry Rozier got the Hornets on the board. Charlotte fired back with a 14-6 run to take the lead, with not much defensive resistance from either side early on. The vets got off to a good start as Hayward scored seven points in the first eight minutes and Rozier shot 3-3 from the floor and played almost the whole quarter in his return from injury. Miller’s and-1 in the closing seconds made it 33-25 in favor of the Hornets after one. Charlotte’s 68.2% mark (15-22) from the field was its best shooting percentage of any quarter this season.

Washington and Williams had collected two fouls each early in the second, forcing the Hornets to go small with JT Thor at the five. As part of a 13-4 run, the Magic scored five unanswered to retake the lead by the eight-minute mark of the quarter.

Around the same time, LaMelo Ball landed hard on his right leg and went down with an injury. He stayed down for two trips down the floor before the Hornets called timeout, and it was clear right away that he wouldn’t return as he was carried to the locker room. We’ll keep you posted on any further updates on Ball’s status. It was officially ruled a right ankle strain.

Minus Ball, Rozier was making a concerted effort to initiate and the threes were falling no matter who took them, a huge factor in keeping the Hornets close during what could’ve been a deflating quarter. Orlando outscored the Hornets 36-24 in the second to take a 61-57 lead into the locker room. Charlotte shot 59.5% FG and 6-12 3P in the first half.

Trading buckets throughout the third, the Hornets offense continued to score with efficiency against a physical Orlando defense despite Ball’s absence. Rozier had tallied 13 points and 9 assists through three and Brandon Miller put on a display with 11 points in the third quarter, but Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner’s 18 points combined gave the Magic a 92-86 advantage heading into the final frame.

The Hornets hung tough as long as they could, but eventually ran out of gas after losing its best player early in the game against the league’s second-best defense. Cole Anthony’s free throws early in a 19-4 run gave the Magic a double-digit lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the night as Orlando coasted to the win.

The Good

Unfortunately, there aren’t many positives to take from this game until we know more about LaMelo’s health status. We’ll give it a shot, though.

This was one of, if not Charlotte’s best shooting performance of the year; 53% from the field and 43.3% from deep (13-30), though they did shoot a lackluster 64% (16-25) at the line. The ball was hitting the paint, corner kick-outs were available and players were willing to make the extra pass to find open looks. Tonight was only the fifth time all season the Hornets have made 13 or more 3-pointers in a game.

Miller scored really well at the rim and from beyond the arc tonight. In the third 20-point outing of his career, he shot 7-11 from the field, 2-3 from distance and 4-5 from the stripe, getting out in transition for easy buckets, nailing threes off screens and handoffs and drawing contacts to get to the line. Full demonstration of the type of perimeter scorer Hornets fans envision him as in his prime.

the bad

Well, LaMelo getting injured is certainly at the top of this list.

Turnovers and defense killed the Hornets tonight. Charlotte committed 18 turnovers for 28 Orlando points, many of which came at inopportune times — notably the Bridges rebound that got ripped from his grasp and bounced off his leg before rolling out of bounds. The Magic just made a lot more of the “winning plays” defensively than Charlotte did.

The perimeter defense wasn’t bad — Rozier and Hayward both defend the ball well and are active in rotation. But the Magic pummeled the Hornets inside to the tune of 74 points and 68.5% shooting in the paint, nearly 20 points above Charlotte’s league-best mark of 58 points in the paint per game. Just look at Franz Wagner’s shot chart. If he didn’t take a three, he was getting all the way to the rim and finishing every time. There has to be a second line of defense here.

Going small only exacerbates the defensive issues Charlotte has, but I’m gonna unleash a #take I’ve had brewing here; Mark Williams is not a good rim protector right now. After a great start to the year, he’s fallen off a cliff defensively, averaging an even 1 block per game despite a significant uptick in minutes from last year. He went four games without recording a block last week. Tonight, he was in foul trouble guarding Banchero, Moe Wagner and Goga Bitadze and only grabbed six rebounds in 22 minutes as the Hornets lost the rebounding battle 44-36. It seems like he really struggles when met with physicality and aggression from his matchup.

The Hornets are back at it on Tuesday for an In-Season Tournament matchup against the New York Knicks. Let’s hope LaMelo’s injury isn’t anything serious.