The Charlotte Hornets scored just 15 points in the fourth quarter as they lost to the Phoenix Suns, 120-113.

The summary

Mark Williams got an easy look to start the game and open the scoring. It was part of an 8-0 start for the Hornets as the Suns took nearly three minutes to put their first points on the board. The Hornets played well on both ends of the floor and built an early double digit lead. A couple of bad defensive breakdowns trying to double Kevin Durant resulted in some easy threes that sharply cut into the lead. An attempted alley oop by Vasa Micic went straight into the basket to put the Hornets up 34-28 after one.

The Suns went on a little run to tighten the game early in the second quarter, but a dominant stretch of play by Mark Williams kept the Suns at arm’s length. The good done by that stretch was unwound by a really bad run of play in which the Hornets went nearly four minutes without a point. It featured some questionable shots and funky offense. The Suns overtook the Hornets and took a brief lead before a four point possession to end the quarter tied the game at 62.

The Hornets opened the second half much like they did the first with six straight points. Miles Bridges splashed a couple of stepback threes over Kevin Durant, but Durant and Devin Booker were able to answer most of the good things the Hornets did. The Hornets lead grew as large as ten with a Nick Smith Jr. three, but that was quickly canceled out by a Royce O’Neale 3-point play. The Suns tried to steal some points late in the third quarter when Bradley Beal went to the free throw line after Oso Ighodaro got fouled. He even made a free throw before the officials realized what was going on and corrected the problem. For whatever reason that wasn’t any sort of violation on the Suns. After all the dust settled on the third quarter, the Hornets led by five.

The fourth quarter started with a little bit of sloppiness, but the Hornets found some offense by playing defense. They got their hands on a whole bunch of Suns passes and dribbles, which led to runouts that they were able to score on. Once the turnovers dried up, so did the Hornets offense. They had a few really rough halfcourt possessions and some defensive breakdowns that allowed the Suns to come roaring back. The Suns played some very physical defense that disrupted the Hornets ability to finish at the rim. A couple of dimes from Kevin Durant and a corner three from Royce O’Neale served as a dagger.

The good

Mark Williams was dominant in the first half. It’d be nice to see that continue for four quarters, but that’s probably expecting too much of any player. There was a point midway through the second quarter where he had single handedly outrebounded the Suns. He finished with 24 points and 16 rebounds, and the Hornets won his minutes by eight points.

Miles Bridges had a good game. He added five assists and five rebounds to his efficient 21 points. He picked his spots very well.

Josh Green’s activity level deserved more than three steals and two offensive rebounds. It felt like he was getting deflections and tip outs every couple of minutes. The offense hasn’t been there lately, but the defense and off ball activity have been top notch.

It didn’t always pan out with the Suns shot makers, and there were a few breakdowns, but it felt like the defensive process was good. The Hornets have been putting better effort on that part of the floor in recent games, and it showed up in the box score with 10 steals. That’s been complemented with high energy on the offensive glass. If the players can start executing better on offense or just make more shots, you can see the early foundation of a good two way team.

The Bad

The offensive execution down the stretch was horrendous. The Hornets forced a lot of heavily contested shots against aggressive Suns pressure when it felt like there were easy kickouts to wide open 3-point shooters. The offense is predicated on forcing help to get open jumpers. It doesn’t do any good to pass up the open jumpers in favor of trying to shoot through and over the help. That’s why the Hornets only made five of their 15 3-point attempts in the final frame, and they only attempted six shots from behind the arc after shooting at least 11 in each of the first three quarters.

LaMelo Ball has to be more efficient if he’s going to be shooting 25 shots a game. I don’t necessarily think he needs to shoot less, but the Hornets are going to have a hard time staying efficient on offense if he’s going to be shooting under 40% on such high usage.

What’s Next

The Hornets have a couple of days off before continuing the road trip in Utah on Wednesday.