Terry Rozier scored 30 while Miles Bridges had a 27 point, ten rebound double double, but it wasn’t enough for the Charlotte Hornets in their 112-107 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

Summary

The Hornets predictably struggled on the interior with the Pelicans’ physicality. Jonas Valanciunas and Zion Williamson both bullied the Hornets inside as scorers and as rebounders. Nick Richards was able to answer in the opposite side with the team high in points in the first half, but the Hornets lost that area of that floor pretty convincingly in the first half. The first half also featured the NBA debut of Nathan Mensah, and it didn’t go well. He missed a chippie at the rim within a few second of checking in for the first time. He committed three fouls in seven minutes, shrinking an already thin big rotation.

The Hornets did not share the ball well at all in the first half. A lot of possessions ended in iso pull-up jumpers and everything looked very disconnected. It wasn’t a sustainable way to play offense, and that finally caught up to the Hornets late in the first half. They went over five minutes without a made field goal, which allowed the Pelicans to open a 50-39 lead.

The Hornets made their big push in the third quarter. After several minutes of basket trading, the Hornets popped off a mini run with Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges. A couple of Terry Rozier threes later, and the Hornets were back within one possession. After a little lull in scoring, the Hornets blitzed the Pelicans with five straight made field goals and took the lead on a Rozier jumper. Jose Alvarado tied the game up at the horn, setting up a grandstand fourth quarter finish.

The Pelicans answered the Hornets third quarter run with a few quick buckets off the hands of CJ McCollum to start the fourth quarter. The foul situation became dire, as Mensah and Richards committed a series of fouls early in the frame. Mensah fouled out, while Richards stayed glued to the bench with five fouls. The Pelicans briefly restored a double digit lead, but a couple of interior buckets from Miles Bridges brought the Hornets closer and forced a Pelicans timeout. The teams pushed and pulled a bit, and the Hornets eventually ran out of time despite some more near heroics from Terry Rozier. The final nail in the coffin was driven when Herbert Jones rebounded his own missed free throw with 17.7 seconds to go and got two more free throws to push the lead to six.

The Good

Your regular Terry Rozier appreciation section. He had another 30-piece in this one and hit some huge shots when the Hornets needed them, as per usual. It’s a shame that apparently it’s against the rules for he and LaMelo Ball to be healthy at the same time.

Miles Bridges was a strong second banana. He had a few of his own big buckets down the stretch and played well against Zion Williamson and the other Pelicans bigs. He finished with 27 points and 10 boards.

Brandon Miller put in another solid shift, this time without any egregiously bad halves or quarters of play. He hit multiple 3-pointers for the ninth straight game, the longest such streak by a rookie in team history.

Nick Richards was good offensively, making all seven of his shots from the field and both of his free throws.

The Bad

It might be a little unfair to him here, but Nathan Mensah was not ready for the big time. He was clearly overwhelmed by the speed and physicality of the NBA game. In 13 minutes, he didn’t make a shot from the field, turned the ball over twice, and committed six fouls. It was not a good debut for the rookie.

The rest of the Hornets bench wasn’t much better. Bryce McGowens was fine, but Ish Smith and JT Thor combined for zero points on 0-of-4 shooting in 29 minutes. The bench as a whole had nine points, and seven of those came from McGowens. It’s been really hard for the Hornets to win when they’re getting such little scoring pop off the bench.

The Hornets sealed their fate by allowing an offensive rebound on a missed free throw, by the shooter no less. We’ve seen that happen far too often this season, and those kinds of lapses are happening too much for the Hornets in general. They’re fouling the opposition at inopportune times and falling asleep when they need to be locked in. Luck has not been on their side on the injury front, but they’ve also been architects of their own demise far too often.

What’s Next

No rest for the weary. The Hornets will take a step up in interior domination as they host Joel Embiid and the 76ers on Saturday.