Charlotte’s Defense Holds Sturdy, Offense Out of Sorts in First Game Since Ball’s Ankle Injury
The Charlotte Hornets were looking to steal the show from two-time NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant in his long-awaited Phoenix Suns debut on Wednesday night, but instead, saw their season-high five-game winning streak come to an end in a 105-91 home loss.
Kelly Oubre Jr. moved into Charlotte’s starting lineup following LaMelo Ball’s season-endingankle fracture and finished with a team-high 26 points – 22 in the second half – on 9-of-24 shooting and nine rebounds in the loss. This was Oubre’s highest point total since returning from a six-week absence on Feb. 24 and his most since scoring 31 in Sacramento on Dec. 19.
Phoenix blazed its way to a quick 11-0 lead right out of the gates and while the Hornets soon righted themselves, the visitors took the second quarter, 30-19, to enter halftime leading by 16. Charlotte weathered Devin Booker’s 17 third-quarter points and cut the deficit to six heading into the fourth, but the offense went dry again as Phoenix pulled away for its fifth straight head-to-head win over the hometown Hornets.
“Our effort was really good,” said Hornets Head Coach Steve Clifford afterwards. “We gave ourselves a chance. Our defense, which has been getting better and better, was really good. We’ve got to figure out the offense here. When you lose someone like [LaMelo], it’s not just his scoring – it’s his shot creation. We have to figure out better ways to sub so we don’t have those stretches where we have lineups on the floor where it’s going to be hard to score or we’re super dependent on one guy or two guys.”
Added Dennis Smith Jr., “It’s just an adjustment. We’re missing two of our starters (Ball and PJ Washington) and they were both guys that averaged double digits. It’s kind of tough, but we’ve just got to adjust. [The Suns] are a team that’s been in the Finals in recent years, so they came out and did what they were supposed to do. Ninety-one points though just isn’t going to cut it, but we did well defensively, so that’s a bright spot.”
Terry Rozier (20), Gordon Hayward (15) and Mark Williams (11) also scored in double figures, with Williams snagging 10 boards to become the first Charlotte rookie to record three straight points-rebounds double-doubles since Emeka Okafor from March 28-April 13, 2005 (10 straight). Charlotte ended up shooting a season-low 36.4% – 9-of-33 from 3-point range (27.3%)– and only went 18-of-28 from the free-throw line (64.3%).
Durant, who hadn’t played since Jan. 8 because of a right MCL sprain, showed zero signs of rust and finished with 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting in his first appearance since getting traded to Phoenix on Feb. 9. Booker led all scorers on both sides with 37 points and big man Deandre Ayton recorded 16 points and a game-high 16 rebounds for his 32nd seasonal double-double.
The Hornets will close out their four-game homestand against the Orlando Magic on Friday, March 3 starting at 7 PM ET. Follow all the action on Bally Sports Southeast and WFNZ 92.7 FM.
