The Charlotte Hornets lost their 11th game in their last 12 outings, this time falling to the league worst Washington Wizards.

The Summary

We’ll keep this one brief because I don’t think anyone wants to relive the game or live through it the first time knowing the result. The Hornets, on the brink of being mostly healthy, played a Wizards team that’s been noncompetitive in most of their games this season. They were 3-21 coming into this game, but you wouldn’t have known it if you watched. The two teams were evenly matched throughout the entire game. The Hornets maintained some semblance of competitiveness for a while purely off shot discrepancy. They chased down a lot of offensive rebounds and took care of the ball, but that didn’t make up for how poorly they shot the ball.

That’s become the recurring theme for the last few weeks. The Hornets flat out cannot put the ball in the basket from anywhere on the floor. They managed to put up a whopping 106 shots against the Wizards but only made 43 of them. They made 8-of-43 3-point attempts, which you could seemingly do better than if you shot with your eyes closed.

Despite how awful they played, the Wizards are bad enough that the Hornets still had a chance to win the game. But they couldn’t get a stop against a team that’s been self stopping all season. They gave up 123 points, which is the most the Wizards have scored since they lost to the Spurs 139-130 back in the middle of November. It’s a horrific loss.

The Good

No one died.

The bad

LaMelo Ball finished with 34 points and 13 assists, which looks really good, but the way he got there was a big factor in the loss. He attempted 32 shots to get to those 34 points and only made 11 of them. He came out of the gates firing and missing. He managed to throw up nine first quarter 3-point attempts in nine minutes despite only making two of them. He shot heavily contested shots off the dribble and stayed on the perimeter despite not being able to hit the broadside of a barn. There’s a level of confidence that you need as a shooter, and you don’t want guys to be too quick to shut it down if they’re cold, but it’s rather absurd to get to 3-of-18 shooting from three, especially when you’re scoring well inside the arc.

The Hornets are the frustrating kind of bad team where they find new ways to fail on a regular basis. For a while they turned the ball over at a fervent pace, and that was holding them back form winning games. They’ve started taking care of the ball better, but now the offense looks disjointed and no one can make a shot. Occasionally they completely bottom out defensively. Patch one leak, and another one opens up.

What’s Next

The Hornets have no time to feel sorry for themselves. They’re in Philadelphia again as they try to avoid getting swept in the season series. Joel Embiid will possibly make his return from a sinus fracture as well.