The Charlotte Hornets fought hard and played competitively, but they were outgunned down the stretch and lost to the Los Angeles Clippers, 113-104.

Summary

Bryce McGowens hunted a couple of good buckets early in a very competitive start. Cody Martin checked in, immediately stole a pass, and dropped the ball off to PJ Washington for a fast break dunk. He ended the first quarter with three steals and a 3-pointer made. Meanwhile James Harden and his 10 points paced the Clippers, who trailed the visitors 27-26 after one.

The second quarter didn’t start as well for the Hornets. It was very similar to the third quarter at Denver. The offense largely consisted of isolation basketball and few quality shot attempts. A timeout and the reinsertion of Martin, Gordon Hayward, and Miles Bridges steadied the ship. Martin had an aggressive driving dunk, big block from behind, and step back jumper as part of a Hornets run to tighten the game up. James Harden responded with his own takeover, both as a scorer and a passer, and led the Clippers to a 55-50 lead at the half.

The second half started with Nick Richards dribbling into a mid range jumper. It was the first of a bunch of midrange jumpers the Hornets attempted in the quarter. They made a fair amount of those to overcome the analytical flaw of their shot selection to stay even with the Clippers, who didn’t shoot all that well but made up for it by getting their shots around the basket and from behind the arc. A quick run from Miles Bridges, PJ Washington, and the Hornets pulled them within two as the quarter ended.

Bridges hit his third three of the game to give the Hornets the lead, then Nick Smith Jr. hit one to restore the lead after the Clippers took it back. A Terry Rozier three put the Hornets up seven with 9:29 left and forced a Clippers timeout. That timeout woke the boys up. The Clippers went on a 19-2 run coming out that was heavily influenced by their core veterans and even included a desperation Russell Westbrook three at the shot clock buzzer. The Hornets resorted to blitzing the Clippers pick and rolls to force Ivica Zubac to be a decision maker. They had varying degrees of success with this, and the Clippers eventually adjusted by putting more reliable passers as the screener. Regardless, the Hornets couldn’t get enough shots to go down on the other end to make up any ground.

The Good

Cody Martin showed all the good parts of his game, especially in the first half. At one point Eric Collins commented that it seemed like there were two Cody Martins on the floor, and it’s hard to disagree. He was deflecting passes, blocking shots, chasing down loose balls, and even made a couple of jumpers. The perfect glue guy performance.

Miles Bridges kind of quietly put together a really good game. His scoring came in quick little bunches at different points throughout the game, and he played a good floor game in between those spurts. He finished with 21 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks. The shooting percentage doesn’t look great in the box score, but he missed his last three attempts from the field in what was essentially garbage time as the Hornets were quickly chucking up junky shots to try to make a rally.

PJ Washington had a very good game off the bench. He scored 18 points and was active on the glass.

Nathan Mensah only played four minutes, but he made a defensive impact in those minutes. He had one stretch where he blocked a Zubac layup attempt then repositioned himself to take a charge from Harden in the same possession.

The Bad

The Hornets continue to do themselves no favor with their shot selection. They ended up attempting 29 threes, but a handful came in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter with the Hornets desperately trying to catch up. They’re not getting good looks from three within the flow of their offense. They ended up making just eight 3-pointers, which isn’t going to win many games.

Terry Rozier had an off night, to put it nicely. He finished 8-of-23 from the field and 1-of-8 from three, with a lot of the 3-point misses coming in the fourth quarter as the Hornets watched the game slip away. He was also responsible for the first missed technical free throw of the season for the Hornets.

Gordon Hayward left the game in the third quarter with what the team is calling a calf strain. No word on the severity yet, but it’s easy to feel like this could extend to a prolonged absence given Hayward’s injury history.

What’s Next

The Hornets will stay in LA and come right back to crypto.com Arena on Thursday to take on the Lakers.