The Charlotte Hornets allowed the New Orleans Pelicans to make a franchise record 25 3-pointers in yet another blowout loss, 132-112.

Summary

The game was played without the typical voice of the Hornets Eric Collins, who was forced to miss the game with an illness. It made for a strange atmosphere to the broadcast.

The first quarter featured an all around offensive explosion. With two minutes left in the first quarter, the Hornets had made 10-of-18 shots and 4-of-7 from three, yet they still trailed by 12. The Hornets were too easily sucked in trying to protect the paint, and the Pelicans had their pick of open spot up shooters on the perimeter. On the rare occasions that they did miss, they were batting about .500 grabbing their own rebounds. Despite a 36 point first quarter, the Hornets trailed by seven.

The Pelicans’ hot shooting and offensive rebounding continued into the second quarter. They started the period with three straight made threes, the last of which came off an offensive rebound. The Hornets took a timeout to slow things down, and it worked. PJ Washington and Terry Rozier led a charge that made the game as close as six points before the Pelicans came up with an answer. The Hornets got as close as three thanks to some more shot making by Rozier before the Pelicans took a five point lead into the half.

The Pelicans jumped on the Hornets coming out of the break. While not the magnitude of the first quarter onslaught, the Pelicans got back their hot 3-point shooting and took over the offensive glass. A Pelicans run in the middle of the quarter built their lead up to double figures, and they kept that heading into the fourth quarter.

The teams went back and forth for a few minutes before the Pelicans’ 3-point shooting fully buried the Hornets. There was a fun back and forth with some impressive outside shooting from both teams through the middle of the quarter, but the game was too far gone for the outcome to be affected.

The Good

PJ Washington and Miles Bridges did a really nice job guarding Zion Williamson in the half court. They matched his physicality and made him take several awkward long jump hooks that he didn’t make. He only scored 13 points on 12 shots. He averaged 22.2 points per game on the season.

This was fun by LaMelo:

LaMelo Ball off the backboard to himself 🤩🤩🤩pic.twitter.com/q74Fqnf1Jo

— MeloHive 🛸💕 (@Meloleague) January 18, 2024

LaMelo looks like the player he was before his super hot stretch of play leading up to his injury. He started the game slowly but found his groove in the second half. He finished with 29 points and seven assists.

Terry Rozier had a very good night on the offensive end as well. He made his fair share of tough Terry jumpers and runners and had a couple of one man runs when the game was slipping away. 25 points on 15 shots–you’ll take that seven days a week.

Frank Ntilikina got into the game, so good for him for making it back from injury.

The Bad

The Hornets somehow managed to deter the Pelicans from attempting shots around the basket but still didn’t secure the defensive glass. The Pelicans made 25 of 47 3-point attempts, and on the rare occasion they did miss, it was almost a 50% chance that they’d get the offensive rebound. The Hornets just didn’t play with enough attention to detail on the defensive end. They overhelped and were slow to rotate to shooters. We talked in the preview about how the Pelicans are a good jump shooting team. The Hornets were not prepared to stop that.

Part of the Hornets struggles defensively were a result of poor transition defense. We saw it against Miami, and the same problems popped up against the Pelicans. When New Orleans got out and ran, the Hornets struggled to locate shooters and set their defense. 22% of the Pelicans’ offensive possessions started with a transition play, and they scored 1.625 points per possession on those plays. Both of those numbers are very, very high.

The Hornets’ bench scored all of 14 points before garbage time, and it took them 18 shots to get there. They made 33% of their field goal attempts and two of seven threes. Players’ roles are being elevated by the injury situation, but the deep bench just simply isn’t good enough for a team that had aspirations of being competitive this season.

What’s Next

The Hornets have now lost six in a row and 17 of their last 18. They finally get to return home to try to get revenge on the Spurs on Friday.