The Charlotte Hornets turned a two point halftime deficit into a 138-104 loss to the Houston Rockets.

Summary

The first half consisted of up and down basketball from a couple of different perspectives. Most of the scoring for both teams came in quick spurts which were broken up by frenetic, sloppy basketball for stretches. The highlight of the first quarter was Brandon Miller putting Dillon Brooks on the floor.

DOWN GOES BROOKS 👀 @brandmillerr | @hornets pic.twitter.com/jJ5oqTucSl

— Bally Sports: Hornets (@HornetsOnBally) January 27, 2024

Nick Smith Jr. hit a couple of tough jumpers to open the second quarter scoring for the Hornets, then hit a three after the team went cold for a few minutes. Meanwhile, Cam Whitmore took approximately all of the shot for the Rockets to massively varying levels of success. Both LaMelo Ball and Miller had to sit out much of the quarter with foul trouble, but the bench brigade did a good job keeping the Hornets in what was a back and forth game. At the half, the Hornets trailed by only two.

Something must have happened to the Hornets in the locker room, because they did not look like a professional basketball team in the third quarter. LaMelo and Miller both quickly got themselves deeper in foul trouble, but that was the least of the team’s worries. The Rockets basically had a layup line to the basket. A 16-2 run that featured three lost ball turnovers from Miles Bridges broke the game open. The Rockets made their first 11 field goal attempts of the quarter, and if there was ever any danger of them missing, the Hornets were called for a foul. Their first miss was a bobbled layup attempt from Amen Thompson, but the Rockets got their own rebound and laid it in anyway. Same thing happened on their next miss. The Hornets got their first secured defensive rebound with 2:11 left in the third. When all was said and done, the Hornets committed nine fouls and six turnovers and trailed by 21.

Cam Whitmore hit three straight threes to start the fourth quarter, then Amen Thompson decided to join the fun and hit his fifth three of the season on his 31st attempt. The Rockets only made their first eight shots to start the fourth quarter, which is technically an improvement on the third for the Hornets defense. The last of those put the Rockets up 36. When the Hornets did force a miss, the Rockets got the offensive rebound and hit another three.

The Good

Nick Smith Jr. had a good offensive night. He had ten points with two made 3-pointers and graduated from playing in garbage time minutes.

Miles Bridges was pretty good on offense aside from that little flurry of turnovers.

The Bad

Literally everything else.

The Hornets were the worst version of the disorganized mess they’ve been all season long. The Rockets relentlessly attacked the basket once they realized they weren’t going to meet much resistance there. When the Hornets started panic crashing into the paint, the three balls started flying. It was terrible basketball, and there isn’t the time or space in this recap to go over all of it.

Just look at this disaster. The Hornets gave up 83 points in the second half.

What’s Next

The Hornets have no time to dwell on this loss. They’ll be back in action Saturday night at home against the Jazz.