The Charlotte Hornets took out the Utah Jazz in what might be the most lopsided game in the NBA all season.

The Summary

The Hornets hit a handful of threes from the left corner and got a couple of fast break buckets to jump out to an early 16-4 lead that would set the tone for how the entire game would go. LaMelo Ball added some circus 3-pointers like only he can. On the rare occasion the Hornets did miss, they tended to get the offensive rebound anyway. Meanwhile, the Hornets were engaged on the defensive end and completely stifled the Jazz. By the time the Jazz finally cracked double figures, the Hornets already had 39(!!) points. During the run, Grant Williams checked in for his first action in almost 14 months, and he wasted little time joining the party with a pair of his own corner threes. After one, the Hornets held a staggering 45-14 lead.

It would be very easy for the Hornets to let off the gas with such a large, early lead, but they did not. They continued to force the Jazz into misses, grabbed rebounds on both ends of the floor, and made more threes and layups. A perfect encapsulation of the night happened a little over halfway through the quarter. Walter Clayton Jr. fired a pass to Keyonte George at the top of the key. Unfortunately for Utah, George was looking the other way gesturing at one of his teammates. The ball caromed off George’s chest and straight to Josh Green, who took the gift the other way and laid it in for two points. That put the Hornets up 40. At one point, the Hornets had 25 second chance points while the Jazz had 28 total points. Brice Sensabaugh went on a little run late in the half to cut the margin all the way down to 39 at halftime.

The third quarter was more of the same. The Jazz continued to play straight up bad basketball. Sensabaugh took a bad jumper early in the quarter that somehow led to a runout and wide open alley oop from Miles Bridges to Brandon Miller. The put the Hornets back up 42 and forced a Jazz timeout. It only got better (or worse, depending on your perspective) from there. Collin Sexton spurred a Hornets run and helped the Hornets to a spot where they had more than doubled the Jazz scoring output (111-55). By quarter’s end, it was 115-64.

There wasn’t a whole lot to talk about in the fourth quarter. The Hornets could have just held the ball for shot clock violations on every possession and still won the game easily. It was simply an exercise in guys getting some stats and seeing how much the Hornets would win by. Tre Mann took advantage of some rare court time to dominate the garbage time. There was some drama about which records would be set in terms of margin of victory/defeat. The Hornets couldn’t quite catch either mark, but Cody Williams did finish with what is apparently the worst plus-minus all time with a -60.

The good

Can’t blow a late lead if that lead is almost 60 points.

I don’t even know where to start. The Hornets did pretty much everything about as well as they could. I think the most notable advantage was on the boards. The Hornets had more offensive rebounds than the Jazz had defensive rebounds, and that should never happen. In total, the Hornets more than doubled the Jazz’s rebound total. As cliche as this is, they really just wanted it more. There were all sorts of instances where a single Hornets would beat three or four Jazzers to tip away a rebound to a teammate.

The ball security was immaculate. Only 12 turnovers against 35 assists, and not many of those were live ball turnovers that led to Jazz buckets going the other way.

The Hornets almost got an extra day off with this one. All of the starters played between 18 and 25 minutes, and the game was so low stress that it probably but very little strain on them both physically. That should hopefully serve them well as they gear up for a tougher part of this road trip.

On a personal level, I’m happy to see Grant Williams back on the floor. 13 months is a long time to be away from basketball, and it’s nervy to get back on the floor for the first time after such a significant injury. But he had a successful night, and he’s going to add an interesting wrinkle to this roster for the rest of the season.

Nine Hornets scored in double figures. Tre Mann actually led the team in scoring with his fourth quarter outburst. It was a true team performance.

The Bad

We didn’t get to hear all of the joy from Eric Collins as this game unfolded since he was away on assignment for Amazon Prime. Other than that, I don’t know how you’d find anything bad for a team that won by 55 points.

What’s Next

The Hornets couldn’t have started this road trip any better. Next stop is Los Angeles where they’ll try to avenge their NFL brethren. They took on a suddenly better Clippers team on Monday night.