The Charlotte Hornets never got off the bus and were blown out by the Washington Wizards, 95-79.
The Summary
It was an…interesting start to a basketball game. The Hornets’ first points came on a three that Dennis Schroder launched about 25 feet in the air to beat the shot clock. The Wizards played like they were playing with a buttered up ball. The teams combined to make three of their first 13 shots with a smattering of bad ball handling mixed in. The bench brigade poured in some threes to help the Hornets build a lead they took into the second quarter. The offense slowed to a slog in the second quarter. No one could buy a bucket, and the Hornets saw the Wizards overtake them and build their own lead. At the half, the Hornets trailed by five.
The cold shooting continued into the third quarter, and it became almost unwatchable as the Hornets bricked wide open threes from all over the floor. The game completely unraveled. The misses seemed to get worse. The bounces started going the Wizards way. It was a total train wreck. Dennis Schroder drew a foul to get free throws with about 30 seconds left in the third. He made both after an unsuccessful challenge to get the Hornets to a whopping 10 points for the quarter. Brandon Miller followed that with a buzzer beater from three to narrow the deficit to 20. The Hornets played a few competitive minutes in the fourth quarter, but it fell apart before too long and the Wizards cruised to a win.
If the fourth quarter needed one thing, it was a signature moment to represent this game. It got it. Brandon Miller was called for a foul. The Hornets challenged, and the call was reversed. Instead, the foul was charged to Dennis Schroder, who fouled out of the game as a result.
The Good
I don’t know? Nothing? It was a lot like the Hawks game last Friday. There was almost nothing redeeming about it. Maybe it’s a Friday thing. I guess the defense was pretty good. Tidjane Salaun played well, though none of his minutes came in meaningful parts of the game.
The Bad
It’s pretty obvious. The shooting was abysmal. I didn’t necessarily think the process was too bad. There were a lot of decent looks, particularly from three. Just no one could make anything. The Hornets went 12-of-56 from three and 18-of-45 from two. Both of those are dreadful percentages. The Wizards have a lot of length, so it’s not terribly surprising that the Hornets struggled to get clean looks from inside the arc. But the 3-point shooting was just one of those things where everyone picked the same night to be cold.
It feels a little unfair to single people out, but part of the issue with the Hornets offense is that there are people that they need to make shots that are simply not making shots. Christian Anderson is now 5-of-23 (21.7%) from the field and 1-of-14 (7.1%) from three. He went 2-of-8 from the field against the Wizards and actually improved his field goal percentage. But he’s a rookie that wouldn’t be playing if the Hornets were healthy, so he gets a pass for now.
There is a more glaring problem, and again, I kinda hate to harp on it, but it’s Sion James. I know he’s not a scorer, and he is doing a good job at the other stuff he’s supposed to do well. But the Hornets need people knocking down shots while they wait to get healthy, and having him in the starting lineup given his shooting struggles has been killing the offense. He’s getting fed a lot of open looks, and he’s now 5-of-32 (15.6%) from three. He shot 35% last year, so he’s obviously capable of better, and he can’t give up on shooting them, but boy is it hard to watch right now. He’s put up over five threes a game, and that’s basically been a lifeline for opposing defenses. I don’t know what else there is to do other than to encourage him to keep trusting his shot and hope that they start falling soon.
Kon Knueppel should be back soon. He’s practicing with the Swarm, and it seems to be going well. He’s going to make a gigantic difference for this team.
